Inside Out Sports 10k race report

Personally I think they should call this the Inside Out Sports 10k from hell, but that's just me ;-). I've run this course as part of the 1/2 marathon so I knew what I was getting myself into and really I did it on purpose to force myself into getting better running hills and thus get stronger. Mission accomplished :-). My 10k pr was in 2004 at the Old Reliable 10k in downtown Raleigh. That course is much flatter/easier than this one so I wasn't expecting to get a pr today. I think when I did that race my time was 55:51 or 8:59 per mile pace. My plan today was to start off around 9:15 pace and see how it goes. This race features many hills and new this year to go with the uphill finish was a nice uphill start. First the numbers...
according to my watch

totals:
Distance 6.27 total time 56:30 Ave pace 9:00 / mi, ave hr 161, max hr 171
If this was really 10k, my pace was 9:05 / mi
I did my splits on the signs on the road so
mile 1 - Distance 1.02 miles, total time 9:20, pace 9:10 / mile, ave hr 157
This was mostly uphill from IO sports to just past CVS, felt good on the hill, tried to keep my speed under control to not burn my legs out too early.
mile 2 - Distance 1.00 miles, total time 9:03, ave hr 153
this was all downhill and felt good, I was still keeping my speed under control and people were passing me, but I didn't mind as I knew what lay ahead...
mile 3 - Distance 1.01 miles, total time 9:11, pace 9:01 / mile, ave hr 160
Now the fun starts, this mile included the first big climb of the race and my first peak at zone 5 at the top of that hill. I passed a whole bunch of people on this one still feeling good. my ave hr was 160 up 7 from the last mile.
mile 4 - Distance 1.01 miles, total time 9:11, pace 9:03, ave hr 164
this mile included two climbs up to Norwell, first on the way out, then after going down the other side, you turn around and get to go back up again, what fun, passed more people, and had some more zone 5 fun
mile 5 - Distance 1.00 miles, total time 8:53, ave hr 161
Yes, the best mile of the day, down hill to evans, then flat for awhile and then only a slight incline towards sheldon. Was pacing off one guy who was very animated and entertaining, so it went by quickly with my ave hr dropping and my speed going up I was feeling good.
mile 6 - Distance 1.01 miles, total time 9:07, pace 9:03, ave hr 169
This was obviously the hardest part of the course with my ave hr way up and two thirds of this mile was in zone 5, but the end was near and I was careful to not push too hard and blow up
final .2 - Distance .22 miles, total time 1:47, pace 8:15, ave hr 170
that was all I had left, legs were now on fire, but with less than a 400 to go I knew I could increase my pace up the last little bit to CVS.

It felt great to finish. I waited a short time to see Marian finish, but that was I could wait for as I started to get real cold, so I did my 1 mile cool down back to my car, changed out of my sweaty shirt, went to starbucks for my triple Mocha and cranked the heater in the car.

Very happy with the results as I felt really strong on the hills and was happy to be once again passing people at the end of the race :-)