run, rest, eat, bitch, buy things, cross-train, blog, repeat.

Monday, April 22, 2013

Race Report: Purity Moosic City 10K

I signed up for this race almost immediately after the Birmingham Marathon. It was like... okay, well, I've got all this fitness saved up... why not race a 10K and see what happens? And then the 2 months between the two races happened and I got busy at work, fell in love with a dog, and ran one 5K that hurt like hell and resulted in a PR and another 5K that felt better, but wasn't a PR. The week before this 10K I was totally regretting signing up for this race.

The thing is... a 10K is HARD. It's like almost as hard as a 5K, but you have to go twice the distance. (Impressive math, no)? Then the friday before the race I started to get a little excited. I mean, there was a good chance for a PR. My 10K PR was a little soft and I texted The KoB on Friday night and told him that my goal was to run under a 48:00. (My PR being 49:33). I came up with a plan. To start out around 8:00 pace for a few miles and then whittle my way down. If I raced smart, that would give me an automatic PR and didn't sound too frighteningly hard.

Saturday morning was beautiful. I parked and started my warm up and ran into fellow bitches, Tanya and Cheryl. We warmed up together and I was honestly not feeling all that good about my goal. My legs didn't feel as fresh as I would have liked, but I figured I could still PR.

Last year I started the race wayyyyy too fast and it came back to bite me in the ass. This year, I started off faster than I originally wanted to, but not like a bat straight out of hell.

My first mile was 7:34 and as soon as I saw that split, I adjusted my goal: No mile splits that start with an 8. I had used this similar goal in Tucson for the half, and it had worked then. For me, it's hard to grasp the ups and downs of a race, no matter how small. If my goal is to hit a specific pace and I don't hit it, it's mentally frustrating. But, if I give myself a range. Like... don't go over 7:59, then it's a lot more relaxing for my brain. And honestly, I think it makes me race harder. Spoiler alert: IT WORKED THIS TIME, TOO!

A Tale of Two Races:

Bwhahahaha. Crash and burn Amy was alive and well in 2012.

The thing is, I never really HURT until the last mile or so. I mean sure it was challenging and I was pushing hard, but I felt like I was in control until the last mile. It was a great feeling. And yeah, I came in under 48:00. How about 46:21? BOOM. Third place in my age group, too.

This was the race that I had been wanting. I finally got my race day. I felt great, my fitness was there and now I have a shiny new 10K PR.




4 comments:

Carina said...

NICE!!!!!

Tanya said...

Bitches get stuff done.

Cheryl said...

You blew my doors right off the hinges on your way to an AWESOME PR.. nice work! Bitch.

Amee said...

This is cool!