I took part in the US's largest 10K race yesterday. I used my qualifying time (20:20) from a 5K that I ran a few weeks ago. I thought my 6:36 per mile pace was a fluke and got pretty nervous since that placed me in a similar wave start for the 10K. I typically train at a 7:30 - 7:55 pace depending on the length of the run and thought that a 7 minute pace would be pushing it for 6.2 miles.
I started in the back of the AB wave assuming I had gotten myself in over my head and would get crushed by the runners around me. As usual I started off fairly fast then tried to settle into a comfortable pace. While doing this a girl wearing a ballerina skirt passed me. She looked extremely fit but I just couldn't let a girl wearing a skirt beat me in a race, so I followed her. Our first mile was a 6:41, probably too fast for me. Luckily at the time that pace didn't feel too bad so I figured I'd be able to keep up with her. Miles two and three were 6:43 and 6:48. That was right where I wanted to be, comfortable and consistent. After that the pace only got faster, mile 4-6 were 6:31, 6:19 and 6:24. I was hurting during the final hill in the last 200 meters as we entered the stadium but managed to finish in 40:51. I came in 695th overall and 25th in my division while getting a new PR by nearly 6 minutes.
The race came only 2 weeks into my official training and also served as a gauge of my fitness level. Now I have a good idea of what pace I should be running for tempo, interval, and long runs and will be able to see improvements or setbacks during future races. I'm pretty happy (and sore) with my results but I still have 18 weeks of training ahead of me. Now it's back to focusing on the task at hand, run a sub 3 hour marathon.
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