On Saturday, I had yet another race, coming off my 25k from last weekend. This time it was a 10k around Lake Nokomis, which is the best flat 10k around. It was also the location of my previous personal best 10k. I set out on Saturday to set a new PR, mostly just as a final confidence builder leading into the big race.
It was probably the smallest race event I've ever done, with only 139 registered finishers. I talked shop with a few people under a tree as we avoided some early morning light rain. The talk turned to how there were a lot of "fast runners" on this course last year, in the 5-6 minute/mile range. Another girl chimed in how a friend of hers just ran his first half marathon in 1:15. Ummm sure. That's the time of an elite top runner athlete. No first timer, I don't care how fit they are, is gonna run that.
Anyway, I went along with the banter, thinking mostly about my goal. The time to beat? 42:27. The pace to beat? 6:50 minute/mile. I lined up at the start, only a few people back. I started fast with the pack, and quickly slowed to establish my pace. It was almost like the order of how people were going to finish were set within that first mile.
During the run, I only passed 2 people and I was never passed. After mile 3, I was completely alone. I mean, COMPLETELY. The person that finished ahead of me was a full minute ahead of me, and the person behind me was a full minute behind. This was a very weird feeling. With no one to pace or help motivate me to push harder, all I had was myself.
By the end of the race, I was pretty sure I had been able to beat my time. I was only watching my pace and never the total elapsed time so I couldn't be sure. I finished 16th overall, total time of 41:52, pace of 6:46. Finishing in the top 20 of a 10k like that was pretty damn cool. It was exactly the confidence builder I was looking for, and told me that all the training this summer really has had an impact on my running.
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