Our first race of 2010 was a 10k...
I think we were/are kind of crazy.. to jump right into a 10k.. but we did it.. and we survived! Excited about running in 2010, Paul and I started training in the middle of December to get a head start on 2010 running. Are main goal is the half marathon in less than a month now. (March 7th) We have 3 races in February.. and then the big half!
Well this past weekends race was in Atlanta. We drove up on Friday and stayed with some good friends of Paul's (Nate & Tiffany's). Nate was running also.. as well as his good buddy.
We all started together.. but Nate's friend broke off almost immediately. Nate stayed with Paul and I for about the first mile. Then Paul and I left Nate and continued our pace.
The first mile was kind of slow at a 10:27 pace. Our second and third mile were almost exactly the same at 9:27. We were making up time for our first mile. To me the first mile is usually the worst. It's like I have to get into the rhythm and the zone. But once I'm past that first mile I am usually ready to go. Also at the start of the race, I have too many things on my mind.. set the ipod.. set the watch.. both at the right time when you cross the start line so your time is as accurate as possible.. and then put your ipod in the sleeve so you aren't running with it.. hoping the music isn't too loud but loud enough that it pumps you up etc.. Lots to think about.
So after mile 3, I was starting to feel like I wasn't going to be able to keep up the pace we were running. (Little back ground, we had been running at 11:30 pace.. so this is almost 2 mins faster than that). So I told Paul to leave me cause I needed to slow it down some.
So around 3.5 or so.. Paul split from me. For most of that mile, I wasn't too far behind him. I could see him about 10 people or so in front of me. Hitting mile 4 I was right under 40 minutes total. It seemed at ever mile marker, I was hitting the time right under the 10 min per mile pace. And I was satisfied with that.
Somewhere in the next mile.. Paul took off.. and I lost site of his neon yellow shirt..
Paul did speed up.. his last 2 miles he ran in 8 min something miles.. finishing the whole thing in 58:17.59! He was the 334th male to cross the finish line.. and the 509th overall.
I crossed the finish line at 1:01:18 . I was the 232th female.. and the 607th overall.
There were 922 total.
I was satisfied with my time. My goal is always to finish... and finish strong, try my best not to walk. I did walk twice.. but probably only for about 30 seconds each time. And I also beat my Peachtree 10k (which was the last 10k I did in 1:10:53) by almost ten minutes.. so I am happy about that.
I was planning on taking my camera but I left it in the apartment.. so here are two photos of us that were taken by the photo people at the race.
Cool little single cup serving ..