In February I did my first "official" 10K (6.2 miles). I run 6 miles almost every Tuesday and Thursday, so I was definitely prepared, but wanted to actually do it in a race format. It was also good to get another timed race in prior to my Half Marathon, just for the experience of running in a race setting. I hadn't done any races since last October, so this was very helpful.
And now, on to my "big day"...
I honestly can't believe how fast it came up! I've been training for 3+ months for this, so it was very exciting for the day to finally arrive! I've ran 12-13 miles every Saturday for the past 4 weeks, so I felt fairly confident going in. My goal was to run the entire race without walking and to complete it under 2 hours and 10 minutes, which would've been just under a 10 min per mile pace.
When we lined up to start, there were so many people and not enough room, so I ended up a little ways behind the 2:20:00 runners. I tried not to let it bother me, and figured I could make it up once the crowd loosened up. And I was right! It took about 3 miles, but I finally managed to catch up with the 2:10:00 pacers, and actually passed them. The next 8 or so miles went just as well. There was even a pretty big hill at mile 9 that I felt confident doing thanks to one of my training routes that takes me up 6800 road in Montrose (killer incline). Unfortunately, right about the time we hit mile 11, I got a terrible side cramp and a weird neck pain at the same time and had to slow down. I didn't walk, but was probably running at a 10 or 11 min/mile pace. When I hit mile 12, I was able to pick up a little momentum due to the mentality of knowing I was almost done, and then when I rounded the corner onto the last stretch and there were people on all sides cheering I picked up my pace a tiny bit more. Unfortunately by this point I just couldn't get myself to sprint or anything though, but still finished with a gun time of 02:03:23 and a chip time of 02:00:51.
Overall I was very happy with myself that I made it so close to 2 hours. With the way I slowed down on mile 11, I didn't think I would be anywhere near that time! Of course, once I finished and saw how close I was, I was immediately bummed that I didn't finish in under 2, but what are you going to do? I am doing at least one more half this year (Georgetown to Idaho Springs Half Marathon on August 10), so I now have a goal for that! I'm happy I finished under my original goal of 2:10, which I think is a great time considering it was my first ever half marathon!
My husband, family (mom, dad, and brother), and I spent the rest of the afternoon seeing a bit of Arches National Park, and then we enjoyed a big celebratory dinner! It was a beautiful weekend in Moab! In fact, it ended up being perfect weather conditions - 60 degrees and cloudy for my run, and then upper 60's and sunny during our time in the National Park!
Overall stats from the race:
Chip Time: 2:00:51
Gun Time: 2:03:23
Average Pace: 9:13 min/mile
Overall rank: 1293 out of 3189 finishers
Class rank (Females 20-24): 40 out of 150
Sex rank: 558 out of 1895
Pictures from the weekend:
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| The starting line (top right) |
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| My bib and finisher medal :) |
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| Hubby and I after the race! |
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| Beautiful blue skies on Saturday afternoon in Arches National Park! |
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As we get into spring and summer, I'm hoping to update my blog a bit more! I'm definitely planning to add running in with hiking this year. We haven't made too many official plans, but I know I want to get up to Estes Park this summer, do several more races, a little camping, and at least one fourteener!
