My first 10K!!! It was absolutely the perfect day for it and the perfect race. It's considered the fastest 10K in Colorado; and the day dawned slightly cloudy with not a stitch of breeze. Perfect! I woke up and got ready as usual for a run, and right as I was about to head out the door I thought I would throw up from nerves. ha! I stretched at home and then headed to the race. I did a little warm up jogging and stretched more. With about 10 minutes before the race, I ate 2 BLOKS. The race started at 7:00 and I chose to place myself very close to the end of the pack. It was actually awe inspiring when we started and I saw how many people there were running. It's a strange but very palpable camaraderie. I took my first mile at a comfortable, but not slow pace. And then after mile 1, I kept telling myself, "It's a 10k, Laura, it's supposed to hurt! Give it your all!" My pace started slacking when that mental pep talk stopped. I'm glad that I positioned myself at the back because it was mentally more encouraging to be passing people all through the race, rather than being passed the whole time. I felt like I paced myself well and pushed hard as well. I'm glad I took my Garmin so I could see when I was running slower than 10:00 and consciously crank it up a notch. So, here are my splits: 1 - 10:15 2 - 9:41 3 - 9:32 4 - 9:49 5 - 9:38 6 - 9:33 .2 - 7:46 ave pace Total time: 1:00:41 (ave pace 9:47) I am SO bummed!! I'm a stupid 40 seconds off my goal time. I really wanted to get under an hour. But I didn't do the math right - I thought keeping it a little under 10:00 pace would get me there. But it's actually under a 9:40 pace. A stupid 7 seconds a mile faster than what I ran. I really feel like I could've done that. Aaaaarrrgh! Learning how to run and beginning to race has been such an interesting experience over the last year. I was never a runner before - never even did sports in high school. So, the idea and ability to "give me all" is still somewhat foreign. I know that my last .3 miles, I was about to die; but the 6 miles before that I was pushing, yet still surprisingly comfortable. I don't know if that's because I wasn't pushing hard enough or if I just found my running "zone." Well, ... there will be many more races in the future; and I hope that by continuing to run and race I will be able to gauge myself, my limits, and my capabilities better. All in time, I guess. | 