On Saturday, 3/18, I ran St. Leo’s 10K for the 3rd year straight. I won my age group in 2015 and 2016, and was hoping for a repeat performance. I had some challenges, but met my goal!
My parents came in town for the weekend, so it was nice to have them there to watch me. We had dinner at Cin Cin Burger Bar the night prior, which tasted OH SO GOOD but was not the right thing to have pre-race, I found out the next day. I had my usual eggs and toast 3 hours prior to the race, at 6 AM, and seemed like everything was OK. I felt like I had a full stomach though, just prior to running, so I knew I would have a tough time.
I went solo to the race, and the fam met me later on, since it was still a bit cold and rainy. The race seemed to have less people than last year, but there were the usual folks I see at every race. I lined up behind a teenage girl in pink, not knowing I’d be dueling with her at the finish. I figured she’d be way faster than me, and just tried to stay close. It was a lovely 49* and cloudy, so I could wear my Oiselle tank and fave pair of Asics shorts (that are now nearly 8 years old!) I also had my new Mizuno Wave Rider 19’s (the bright pink ones!) and my iPod nano, and Garmin vivoactive watch.
Because of my time at the Winter Flight 8K, I felt like a 7:40-7:45 pace per mile was doable. As soon as I started running though, I could tell it was going to be a tough race. My stomach just didn’t feel right. I had the feeling of having to go to the bathroom, but I didn’t really have to. Just a full/blah feeling 🙁 I tried to get in a good groove, but I couldn’t. My brain kept telling me to slow down and/or stop. I had to really tell the inner voice to be quiet. I got passed by the Chik Fil A cow (and his guide) in the first mile (flashback to 2015!) and that felt crummy. The runners were really strung out, and I found myself 100 meters or so behind a guy in orange, and the teenage girl from the start. I focused on just getting to the halfway point. I finally got there, checked my time, and it was 24:43. I knew last year’s halfway point was over 25 min, so I told myself, hey V, you’re still in this. Even though you don’t feel good, you can still get a PR! I forged on.
I grabbed some water at the water stop but chose not to have my 1/2 GU packet, since I didn’t want to make my problem worse. Finally, during mile 5, the feeling started to pass and I could finally pick up speed a bit. I caught up to orange shirt guy, and a teenage boy, and then focused my sights on teenage girl. Near the end of mile 6, I had almost caught her, and she turned around and saw me. I thought, “Yep, I’ve been coming for you!” I also passed an 11-year-old that EVERYONE was cheering for. I just pretended they were cheering for me, LOL! There was about half a mile left. The race felt so long. I told myself, just 3-4 more minutes of running.
Finally, the finish line was in sight. I felt so tired, and could barely breathe, but I pushed as hard as I could to catch the teen:
I knew my family was somewhere at the finish, but I couldn’t see them. I heard the announcer say our bib numbers, but couldn’t make out anything else. The roar of the crowd was so loud. I was a little embarrassed to be the center of attention. But, Teenage girl picked it up, I picked it up, and we were in a dead sprint coming into the finish:
I tried to lean at the finish, and thought I had her beat out of the corner of my eye:
Legs were numb. I reached down to make sure my shorts were still on. I had to pull over and catch my breath… of course, the younger girls didn’t, haha!
I really enjoyed having my family spectate. They’re the best 🙂
We waited around for awhile till the awards ceremony. I found out the teen beat me by 0.1 seconds, and I beat the 11 year old by 1 second. I felt pretty good… one was half my age, the other one-third my age! Made me laugh. Plus I have 2 kids 😉 Happy I can hold my own. Full results here.
My stomach felt crummy for a while, but I had a banana and started to feel better.
Finally my little 5 seconds of “fame” for the medal:
And then we went home!
I think I could have gone sub-48 had I been feeling better, but still… very happy for my fitness right now, and thankful for running my fastest 10K ever. Raleigh Rock ‘n’ Roll weekend is in less than 2 weeks!
Garmin data:
[…] “A” goal was to PR (PR of 48:36 set 3 years ago at St. Leo’s 10K) […]