HMRRC Winter Series #5 – 10M

Sunday morning I didn’t feel like running at all. I woke up later than usual and got to SUNY with a half hour to spare. When I got there I had trouble finding parking and that put me into a bad mood–I didn’t feel like running at all, let alone 10 miles. I could drop down to the 4 mile race, but after dropping down last time, I wasn’t going to. I was decently prepared for the 10 miler after running a pretty good (but slow for me) 8.5 miler last weekend. 10 Miler it was.

The thing I like about the Winter Series races is that you have to register day-of the race. I don’t put a lot of pressure on myself to run well because, if I didn’t feel like it I don’t have to run at all. But I can’t ever bring myself to not run them because if I have it my head I want to run it, I will. Running with people is a way better motivator then running the miles alone, in my opinion. AND you get food afterward.

Since I didn’t put much pressure on myself for this race, on Saturday I drank a margarita and ate Mexican. A bad idea? Maybe, but I knew I could take the race slow if I had to. I also made sure to hydrate well on Saturday night.

It was about 25 degrees at the start with no wind, and it honestly didn’t feel all that cold. The sun was shining and it was a gorgeous day for a race in upstate, New York!

I decided to kick my bad mood in the butt and told myself at the start that this was going to be a good race and today was going to be a good day. It immediately made me feel better and when we started I put my music on and got into the groove.

The second thing I love about the Winter Series races is that they aren’t very crowded, yet you’re still running with people. I was never running by myself during any of the races.

Miles 1-5 went by pretty quick and I was averaging at about a 9:00/mile. This is pretty fast for me!! I had to tell myself to slow down if I wanted to finish the second half strong.

The rest of the miles went by and I never felt tired. I felt FAST! The only time I stopped to walk was during the water stops, which helped immensely. The 15K mark was coming up and I checked my watch–I was going to hit the mark at 1:25 something–faster than my Stockade-athon time!!! I was elated.

I turned the corner to the finish line and booked it. My final time for 10 miles: 1:32:37, a PR by over a minute! I was not expecting to PR this race by any means but the fact that I did made me SO happy. I enjoyed the runner’s high for the rest of the day.

I think this was one of the strongest races I’ve ran to date. I never felt tired. I felt FAST! I actually kept running after the finish line for a little bit. If this was a half marathon I’m pretty sure I would have PRed. I felt great! This feeling is WHY I run.

I have to say, the 2012 race season is off to a great start!

Race Stats:
Total miles – 10.08 miles
Time – 1:32:37
Average Pace – 9:15/mile