My last long run was 2 weeks out. The Monday following the run I came down with a cold/synus infection so I didn't run at all that week. The week of the race I was able to get 3 runs in but I didn't feel 100%. I didn't run Thursday or Friday. I thought breaking 2 hours wouldn't be feasible (my best 10k to date has been 58 minutes).

I started near the back of the pack and tried to settle on about a 9:30ish pace to see how I would feel. About 1 mile into the race the 2 hour pacer shows up alongside me (he must of gotten caught up in the crowd) so I thought I would just shadow him as long as I could. I was able to stay with him until the water stop at the 10 mile mark. I slowed down for water but he didn't...I never made up the gap. I had been pushing fairly hard the whole race and it started to catch up to me..especially once I got back to the Woodland Street bridge. I dropped down to a 10 minute pace in that stretch and was battling the urge to walk. The good news was that the pacer I had been following earlier had us running faster than a 2 hour pace so I had a little wiggle room. At about the 1/2 mile mark I looked at my watch and saw that I was at 1:55:30. I picked up the pace as best I could (thank goodness it was a downhill/flat finish) and came in under my goal time.

Not much...I got about all I could out of my current fitness.

Ate, drank and tried to keep moving while I waited on a buddy of mine to finish. It was our 1st half (he's 67 yrs old) and we were both pumped to both finish without medical assistance. :)


More run volume. The distance warrants more weekly volume if I want to maintain and/or improve my performance.