On August 25, I ran my first race ever! It was the Shore Road Summer Classic 10K. The race was a 5K and a 10K, and I chose to run the 10K. I lucked out since I was able to find a 10K the exact week I was supposed to run a 10K for my half training, which was really great since I wasn't able to run a 10K.
In the days and weeks leading up to the race, I was trying to figure out what a reasonable goal time would be. I had run farther than 10K several times before, so I knew finishing shouldn't be a problem. But I didn't want to totally burn out and have to crawl across the finish line, either.
Most of my longer training runs have been on hilly trails, and this race was pavement and flat, so it was hard to say what my pace would be. But I ran a pretty flat 5 miles in Switzerland in about a 10:24 min/mile pace, so that gave me a jumping off point. I talked to Mr.E and said I hoped to finish in 1:05. He thought that was too easy of a goal and that he thought I could break 60 minutes. I was all, what? no way. But he said he thought I could do it, and that it would be better to try and die in the end than be disappointed knowing I could've given more. So, I decided to set my goal for sub-60 minutes, which would be a 9:37 pace to finish in 59:45.
Race day was beautiful! It was mid-80's and not too humid. You can't ask for much better than that in NYC in August. I got up at about 5:45 and my stomach was really upset. The combination of nerves + Crohn's Disease is no good. I expected it would be like that, but it still sucked. Anyway, my parents actually drove me down to the race and stayed to cheer me on!
When I got there, I picked up my bib (!!) and pinned it on my stomach. I don't know exactly how many runners there were, but it was pretty small, a few hundred. We milled around and I stood in the long porta potty line. When it was 8:00, we all gathered by the starting line, and then all of a sudden we were off! I started the Garmin I was borrowing from Mr.E and started my 10K playlist I had created on the plane ride.
It was an out-and-back course along the water, and it was really pretty! I tried not to start out too fast, and I just moved over to the right hand side and tried to find my running zen. I kept looking at my watch and seeing I was too fast. I just chugged along for a while, trying to keep a steady pace. There weren't any spectators or anything, so after a few minutes, it didn't even really feel like a race. There weren't that many runners, so we spread out quickly. After 1.5 miles, the 5Kers turned around. So far, my pace was good. The first water stop was at about 2.5 miles. I took a cup and walked while I drank, as I had planned. As we approached the turnaround point at 5K, I found myself unable to stop accelerating to make sure I made it to the 5K in under 30 minutes. That way, if the rest of the race went to hell, at least I had that! I thought we would get splits, which we didn't, which sucked. But I did make it in under 30 minutes, so that was good. And I was on track to finish in less than an hour if I could keep it up.
At the second water stop, at about 4 miles, I was starting to feel tired. I drank and walked, but did so a little slower than I had done at the previous stop! At about 45 minutes, I was really starting to fade. I had been able to maintain a sub-9:40 pace the whole time, but at that point, it was getting too hard. I decided to take a quick walk break and try to stay on track afterwards. That didn't go so well, and resulted in me having to walk another minute. I almost never walk in training, so this was very frustrating.
At that point, I knew that I was super close to making it in under an hour, but that I didn't think I was going to make it. I did my best the last 10-ish minutes, but I was pretty sure I was going to be just over 60 minutes. My dad had walked out to the 6-mile marker and cheered me on, which I desperately needed! I run as fast as I could the last 0.2 miles, and gave it everything I had. I crossed the finish line as the clock said 1:00:20. While I was happy to have finished, and with a decent time, I was SO disappointed.
My official time was 1:00:16. 16 lousy seconds! I was pretty frustrated. But I tried to focus on the positive. I knew I had done my best and that I had had nothing more to give.
Next time, I WILL break 1 hour!
In the days and weeks leading up to the race, I was trying to figure out what a reasonable goal time would be. I had run farther than 10K several times before, so I knew finishing shouldn't be a problem. But I didn't want to totally burn out and have to crawl across the finish line, either.
Most of my longer training runs have been on hilly trails, and this race was pavement and flat, so it was hard to say what my pace would be. But I ran a pretty flat 5 miles in Switzerland in about a 10:24 min/mile pace, so that gave me a jumping off point. I talked to Mr.E and said I hoped to finish in 1:05. He thought that was too easy of a goal and that he thought I could break 60 minutes. I was all, what? no way. But he said he thought I could do it, and that it would be better to try and die in the end than be disappointed knowing I could've given more. So, I decided to set my goal for sub-60 minutes, which would be a 9:37 pace to finish in 59:45.
Race day was beautiful! It was mid-80's and not too humid. You can't ask for much better than that in NYC in August. I got up at about 5:45 and my stomach was really upset. The combination of nerves + Crohn's Disease is no good. I expected it would be like that, but it still sucked. Anyway, my parents actually drove me down to the race and stayed to cheer me on!
When I got there, I picked up my bib (!!) and pinned it on my stomach. I don't know exactly how many runners there were, but it was pretty small, a few hundred. We milled around and I stood in the long porta potty line. When it was 8:00, we all gathered by the starting line, and then all of a sudden we were off! I started the Garmin I was borrowing from Mr.E and started my 10K playlist I had created on the plane ride.
It was an out-and-back course along the water, and it was really pretty! I tried not to start out too fast, and I just moved over to the right hand side and tried to find my running zen. I kept looking at my watch and seeing I was too fast. I just chugged along for a while, trying to keep a steady pace. There weren't any spectators or anything, so after a few minutes, it didn't even really feel like a race. There weren't that many runners, so we spread out quickly. After 1.5 miles, the 5Kers turned around. So far, my pace was good. The first water stop was at about 2.5 miles. I took a cup and walked while I drank, as I had planned. As we approached the turnaround point at 5K, I found myself unable to stop accelerating to make sure I made it to the 5K in under 30 minutes. That way, if the rest of the race went to hell, at least I had that! I thought we would get splits, which we didn't, which sucked. But I did make it in under 30 minutes, so that was good. And I was on track to finish in less than an hour if I could keep it up.
At the second water stop, at about 4 miles, I was starting to feel tired. I drank and walked, but did so a little slower than I had done at the previous stop! At about 45 minutes, I was really starting to fade. I had been able to maintain a sub-9:40 pace the whole time, but at that point, it was getting too hard. I decided to take a quick walk break and try to stay on track afterwards. That didn't go so well, and resulted in me having to walk another minute. I almost never walk in training, so this was very frustrating.
At that point, I knew that I was super close to making it in under an hour, but that I didn't think I was going to make it. I did my best the last 10-ish minutes, but I was pretty sure I was going to be just over 60 minutes. My dad had walked out to the 6-mile marker and cheered me on, which I desperately needed! I run as fast as I could the last 0.2 miles, and gave it everything I had. I crossed the finish line as the clock said 1:00:20. While I was happy to have finished, and with a decent time, I was SO disappointed.
My official time was 1:00:16. 16 lousy seconds! I was pretty frustrated. But I tried to focus on the positive. I knew I had done my best and that I had had nothing more to give.
Next time, I WILL break 1 hour!
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