What was I thinking?

Feb. 28, 2009

This whole "run the Surgoinsville 10 Miler" idea was great when the registration was mailed in 2 weeks ago. Little did I know at the time, that I would be sick and it would be 45 and raining the entire time. Seeing as how I couldn't breath and got little to no sleep last night, I didn't have very high expectations. The cold rain and wind at the start didn't help either.

On the hilly backroads, I could tell that the energy level was down. My pacing was consistent throughout, and the rain was actually manageable after mile 5. While it wasn't the best 10 miles ever, finishing was an accomplishment, considering how sick I was.

Time: 1:44:18 Pace: 10:26

How fast can I run 10K?

Jan 31, 2009

The goal at the The War Party 10K, held at Warriors Path State Park in Kingsport, was simple... attempt to break 55:00 in order to sub-seed for the Peachtree Road Race. Having never gone that low before, I thought I could get close, but I wasn't sure if I could actually get there. The day was sunny and cool, which set up well for a quick run, though forgetting the Garmin was a bad sign.

The course is a double loop, with a major hill in miles 1 and 4. Knowing that I needed to run around an 8:5o pace, the goal was to run the first mile at 9:15, then slowly decrease the overall pace by :05 each mile. Admittedly, the actualy first mile pace was probably too fast (9:00), and it turned out to be a "hang on" kind of run.

Close, but not quite, as I missed the 55:00 minute mark by 19 seconds. It still should set me up easily to be in the second group.

Time: 55:19 Pace: 8:55