gorham lions club 10k

a few weeks ago kristal asked me if i would come run a race in her town with her. apparently it was a very small local race and she was trying to get it built up to a bigger race. last year 11 people ran the 10k, 16 ran the 5k. so i told her sure, why not (well, i asked my coach, who turned my training schedule around a little bit to accomodate. and told me he would kill me if i hurt myself.... a few people told me that actually. its good to have friends who care, right?). anyway... in the days leading up to the race i was all "awesome! im so excited to race a 10k! i havent done that in a long time and im anxious to see what i can do!" while also being like "what if i run too fast and my legs fall off and i fall and hurt myself and then i cant run the marathon maybe i should just stay home and eat pie..." yes, these are the things we think of when we are at the end of a long strenuous marathon training cycle and are going crazy. well i might be crazy to begin with.

but i ultimately decided to give it a go. why not. whatever happens, happens, and i wasnt going to allow myself to get hurt... if anything didnt feel right, this wasnt my goal race. i could just stop and walk or hitchhike to the finish. sarah decided to come along with me and cheer me on and we went to pick kristal up on our way. we went in and got our bibs and sarah and i warmed up with a little under 2 miles. everyone gathered at the "starting line" (a crack in the road) and they had a countdown and a bullhorn. as usual, i took off thinking i was being chased... got to 0.5 miles at 6:47 pace. ugh... need to work on this. there were 5 guys ahead of me, 3 of which i knew were in the 5k, 2 in the 10k. i quickly glanced behind me and i was followed far behind by a small group of a few runners, so i slowed down and settled into an oddly comfortable 7:15 pace.

the course was a two loop 5k course with one hill along the way. when i got to the hill and turned left at the top i glanced behind me again and saw two guys running with 5k bibs on (10k bibs were red, 5k white... this was a nice touch). one of those guys ended up passing me somewhere during that 2nd mile and i never got passed again. coming through the 5k finish i threw my water bottle at sarah (there was one water stop along mile 2 if i needed it) and the timing woman yelled out "21:47". a PR? i looked down at my watch and it read 3.0 miles exactly. ugh, the course was going to be short. oh well.

mile 1- 7:19
mile 2- 7:12
mile 3- 7:18

as i headed out onto the second half of the course, i started feeling really hot. it had been about 32 degrees to start the race so i wore my oiselle capris and long sleeve oiselle flyte top (love love love their clothes!) but i was happy that i had worn a tshirt underneath. i managed to pull the top off and tie it around my waist and i was instantly much cooler. the sun had come out and it was probably up into the 40s. wtf, isnt it almost may?! when i got to the hill around mile 5 i again looked behind me and there was no one in sight. a very weird feeling. i got to the water stop and grabbed a cup quickly (well maybe i stopped a few seconds to catch my breath) and took off, knowing i was almost done and was going to get a sweet new PR. i could see the 2nd place guy ahead of me but i knew i couldnt catch him (and i didnt need to) so i just ran my own race and tried to finished strong.

mile 4- 7:17
mile 5- 7:25
mile 6- 7:01
0.2- 6:25

i came through the finish line in 43:41, but my watch read 6.03 so i ran on until it read 6.2- 44:47!! my old PR was 47:50 at beach to beacon in 2009... i never thought i would ever reach that PR again! i was hoping for one today, knowing how i had been running recently i figured it was well within reach, but sub 45 was not something i thought i would do. very happy with this race, and hopefully it will grow to be a bigger race again next year! (this years 5k had 38 people and 10k had 19). i ended up being 3rd overall and 1st female... yay for small local races haha. sarah was an excellent cheerleader and kristal broke her goal of 49 minutes and came in 3rd female!! overall a great day. heading into my next race... maine coast marathon... with 5k, 10k, 10 mile, and half marathon PRs for 2014... fingers crossed for sub 3:58:14!!!

kristal and me

winner winner!

official time: 43:41 (6.03 miles)

1st female

3rd place overall