Cary Distance Festival 10k Race Report

It's been so long since I've done a race report I wonder if I will remember how.

Total Time: 53:29 - Official Time: 53:34
Average pace 8:36/8:37

I've had a cold all week so I wasn't expecting much but it ended up surpassing my expectations. I originally wanted to break 53, but after I got this cold on Tuesday I adjusted that to just getting a pr. My old PR was 55:56 from 2004 so I thought even with the cold I could get that. My coach sends me an email and says are going to go out at 8:45 - 9:00 minute pace and then speed up as you get into it? This is code for you should go out at 8:45 - 9:00 minute pace and speed up as you get into it. I replied with I was planning to go out at 8:45. she replies with "that's what I was thinking but I know you don't like to go out too fast". That almost knocked me on the floor as I always like to go out fast and hang on the best I can, but since I took her on as my coach she has changed me into a negative split person.

So race morning I get up, feeling better, but still my head is congested, so I take my last real sudafed and start getting ready. Get to the race site and it's 35 degrees, but the sun is out and just a light breeze so things are looking good. Do my warmup and adjust my clothing options based on how I feel after the warmup and am ready to go.

Mile 1: 8:16 - When I saw this number I burst out laughing due to the convo I just had with my coach. I was following some people that wanted to run 8:45 and I was passed by some talking about how they wanted to run 8:15, and I felt really good at this point so I was thinking I was probably going to be around 9.

Mile 2: 8:49 - 17:06 - If I was healthy, I would have tried to keep the pace around 8:30, but I decided to dial it back to 8:50 just to be safe and it was working out well as I wasn't really stressed and feeling pretty good. I was trying to socialize with people and have fun, but most were breathing too hard to talk so I just kept on going.

Mile 3: 8:42 - 25:49 - Another good mile, I was passed by a bunch of people that I passed in mile 1 but just let them go, I wanted to stay on pace for a 54 something time and was feeling good. I tried to be nice to one lady who was pushing a double baby jogger, but she just looked at me like I was bugging her as she passed me on the downhills and I passed her back going up. So I gave up on that and passed her for good on this mile. my 5k split was 26:40 which meant a 53:20 finish if I could match the first half and that gave me a lift.

Mile 4: 8:48 - 34:37 - This was a hard mile, the last half was uphill, but I could see some of the people that passed me early on and now we were seeing some of the 5k runners and the 10k leaders on their way back. I saw my coach here and she was leading the women's race by about 30 seconds so I gave her a good yell, but not too good or she would think I wasn't trying hard enough.

Mile 5: 8:41 - 43:19 - Had a tough stretch on this one as well at the turn around, but I caught one of the guys here that passed me in mile 2 and had been just up ahead. Talked with him a bit before leaving him on the next hill. Legs were really feeling good, but everytime we went up hill I had to cough more so I wasn't ready to push it yet.

Mile 6.2: 10:10 - 53:29 ( 8:28 pace for this split ) Other than the big hill at the end of this mile I felt great. I passed about 5 people and at each sign I knew it was getting closer. When I got to half mile to go sign I was at 49 something so I knew my 54 was in the bag. This gave me just enough energy to get up that last hill and fortunately there was a .2 mile downhill to the finish to recover so we didn't look like death at the finish line.

This was a great race for me and I know I can get a 52 something 10k, but that will have to wait as triathlon season is almost here.

Next race March 20, Cary long course duathlon
5 mile run / 31 mile bike / 5 mile run