Last night I ran the Spring Beats 10k. Yes- that’s right. I said night. It was really weird to participate in an official race at night. All day long I was very aware that I had a race to run later that night, so I didn’t eat a lot, drank in moderation, stretched a lot… And truth be told, I ended up running a pretty great race! My goal was to run all my miles in less than 11 minutes and I am pleased to say that I met/creamed that goal! As I was cruising along, the voice from Map My Run that announces how far you’ve gone and what your pace is told me I was running faster than usual and I decided to just keep that pace. But I’d been running mostly uphill at that point and as the trail started sloping down, unbeknownst to me, my pace picked up! When I realized u ran the next mile at 9:34, I decided to keep that pace… And did so for one more mile. From there I stayed in the mid-tens, but I’m so proud! According to my tracking devices, I made my new 10k PR of 1:04! I felt really proud! Unfortunately, the 10k route was more like 10k with an extra half mile, because my tracker also told me that I ran 6.7 miles, not 6.2. Races usually aren’t spot-on, but this one was a lot longer than most and resulted in the recorded time being 1:10. That may sound silly, but I checked two different devices against it and both of them reported the same extra half mile irregularity. I would be curious about what happened with other people, as well. Regardless, it was a lot of fun! If you’re a data nerd like me, then this is for you:
I was really looking forward to the after party. I don’t usually do those kinds of things, so it was definitely stepping outside of my comfort zone to commit to a beer party after I ran six miles. When I first read about it, I thought it was a bottomless beer garden for ten bucks. I got a little excited at the prospect of partying, something I’ve not done since my early 20’s, so I bought the beer garden ticket! I imagined me and several of my running buddies getting loose lipped until the wee hours around a cheap table in a pub tent. The details came out a few days ago, though: my ten bucks bought two beers and you’d better be finished with ’em by 10:00 cuz it’s lights out. Seriously different. Cut to last night where we stood around in a tight circle, shimmying to Prince songs, chatting and getting plenty cold and full of beer as to be home by 9:30. Was it different than I thought? Yes. But I had a lot of fun, actually, hanging out with Jessica and the Nicoles for the after party and I’d do it again.
Now today? I have no idea what’s up except that my lunch is up. So is my breakfast. It’s not so good times for this lady today as I’ve been throwing up all day. Don’t tell me it was the beer. 😛 I hate being sick so MUCH! Especially stomach flu sick. Just, no thank you. Ugh. Back to happier times…
Congrats on the new PR. I have been debating doing a 10k. I have only been running for a year & have only run two 5k races last year. Completing them was a goal. I never thought I could run 3 miles continuously. I have done a few runs that were 6-7 miles but nothing like the time you did. I just might need to go outside my comfort zone & sign up. What training did you do? Are you working on speed or distance? Hope you share your tips for getting faster.