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.