Race Seven!

Oh the hills! Oh the humanity! Haha. Anyway...
Today's race was the Tucson Heart Group Cinco de Mayo 10K. My longest race to date. And I had two goals for this race.

1. Keep a steady pace so that I can run the whole race. In training, I always tried to keep my 5K pace going for 10K and wasn't able to sustain it. This time, I slowed my pace slightly and was able push hard but not beyond my limits. As I ticked off each mile, I felt stronger and stronger. It may have also helped that the last 2 miles were mostly downhill.

2. Break 8:00/mi. I've been consistently running around 7:30/mi. in the 5K and figured I'd need to slow down to run the whole 10K and I wanted to still see that 7 in the pace. I couldn't find my watch this morning so I wasn't able to track my pace through the race. I listened to my body and slowed up when I was in trouble and sped up when I was feeling great. Fortunately, there was more feeling great than trouble. The course itself was pretty wicked. When I first signed up for this race I talked to a few folks who had run it before and they all said, "Oh, the Cinco 10K? Hope you've been training on hills!" They were right! The course started up hill and was relentless through the turn around. Although they billed the last 2 miles as downhill, the course finished after a hill.

I saw some of my running buddies at the race and it's always nice to compare war stories.

I know I've said it before but I'm still amazed at how far I've come. Down 75 pounds in 16 months, down 7 minutes in my 5K time and 10 minutes in my 10K time in 2.5 months. I never thought I'd be a runner but here I am. I am a healthy. I am happy. I am a runner.

Race #: 7
Distance: 6.21 mi
Type: Road
Bib #: 628
Time: 49:40
Pace: 7:59/mi.
Place: 172/740 (AG 15/30...just noticed that 7 of the top 10 are in my age group...haha...crap.)

Next Challenge: TRIATHLON! AH! 7/4/10: Holualoa Firecracker Triathlon