Wednesday, July 26, 2006

10 K

My friend, colleague, and fellow running enthusiast J.C. (no, not Jesus Christ) conned me into running the Deseret News/KJZZ Pioneer Day 10K. It (sort of ) fit in with my new Half-Marathon training schedule so I agreed.
Then J.C. somehow injured herself running (that doesn't bode well for the story, does it?), and I was left to run the 10K by myself. Well, by myself with about 200 people.
When my alarm went of at 4:45 a.m. (yes, IN THE MORNING), I thought, I can just lay here. No one will know if I don't run the race. Problem was, I already had a full tank of adrenaline and nerves. What was I going to do with that?
So I finally left the house at 5:40. Race time was 6. So I got even more nervy driving up to Research Park. I wasn't the only one arriving just in time.
The race started at 6:05. It took several minutes for all of us to file over the starting line.
I knew that I had started too fast. I was tired and my mouth was dry. I just kept running fast, though, because I wanted water. The first aid station wasn't until Mile 3. By that time, I was halfway done. Why slow down? The faster I ran, my logic dictated, the faster I would be done.
I finished the race in 54:39. My goal had been to average 9:30 or 9:15 miles. My unofficial average was 8:48. (Remember, my half-marathon average was 10:06).
So I'm pretty proud of myself. My new training regimen is working!

5 comments:

susansinclair said...

Wow! (Though I must admit, when I saw "10K" my first thought was "$10 thousand? Really??") Signed, she who runs only when chased.

Lisa B. said...

Your post reminds me of what's impressive about race runners: (a) the early rising, (b) they run when no one makes them, and (c) they run.

Congrats on a terrific race! Proud to know ya.

lis said...

go lynn! very impressive.

Condiment said...

Way to go, Lynn!

Counterintuitive said...

yipee! The dry mouth is a killer. I always get it in short races--one because I'm a nervous ball of energy and two because I get worried about drinking water which may lead to urinal distress and possibly a side ache.

I'd be interested in the new training methods. In my experience small changes can lead to much lower times, especially if you up the intensity factor in workouts.