Did you know that it’s possible to hit the wall during a 10K? I think I managed it on Saturday at the RUNSLC 10k. So you can tell it went pretty well LOL!
This race series is so well organized and managed to find the only flat 10K route in Salt Lake City. Packet pick-up took 3 minutes on Friday – I timed it! No medal or t-shirt but some cool aluminum pint glasses – although there was a delay in shipping so I’m not going to pick mine up until the 15K in April. Last year it was coffee mugs so it’s nice that they mix it up.
The race starts and ends at the running store which luckily is only two miles from my house. My husband dropped me there at 7.20 am and I did a two mile warm-up. This was pretty slow and my legs felt heavy but I hoped that I would feel better once the race started. But on the plus side – no shin splint issues. I got back to the store at 7.50 am and dropped my stuff (my running vest and an extra layer) at the bag drop and lined up nearish the front. At 8 am we were off.
And I immediately felt………….well, off. It felt hard straight away and I knew it would be a tough race. The route was an out-and-back which has it’s good and bad points. Personally, I like seeing the leaders at the turn-around and seeing who is in front of me. But knowing what is ahead of me can make the second half of the race seem much tougher. The first four miles went pretty smoothly (7: 39/7:25/7:39/7:37) but then things got hard. I knew that I was fifth woman and I was running pretty much running by myself so there was no real motivation to push any harder. I could feel myself slowing down (8:08/8:03) finishing in 47:52 (7:43 pace). But that was as fast as I could go for this race. About 90 seconds slower than my PR but 90 seconds faster than the same race last year. I kept my position as fifth woman and second in my age group.
This race was a bit of a wake-up call as to where my current fitness is right now. I had hoped that I could get all six miles under 8 pace but that’s not where my body is right now. I know that I should be happy considering I had to take two weeks completely off from running to recover from shin splints and my lack of long runs means that I just don’t have the endurance I need to get closer to a 45 minute 10 K. I need to be patient and know that if I’m consistent then those paces will come back, but it’s hard not to compare yourself with your best self. But I need to train with my current fitness and not my desired fitness. Ok. Enough with the pity party.
Here’s a photo from the awards ceremony (I’m on the left). The prizes are gift certificates for the store. So far I’ve gotten $50 which isn’t bad considering the registration was close to $80. I’m going to treat myself to some new shoes once my half marathon is over. And this race has given me a better idea of what my goal for this half should be!