St. Leo’s 10K Race Report {2016}

After a bad day last month at my first race of the year, I hoped to have a great running day like I did at last year’s St. Leo 10K.  The main differences being: Last year’s race day had logistical challenges with the kids (this year was easy with a baby-sitter); last year I was still breast-feeding Asher and had sleep deprivation for months–this year he’s almost 2 so yeah… almost a year of him drinking cow milk and me getting way more sleep!!

So anyway.  In anticipation of the Raleigh Rock ‘n’ Roll half marathon that we’re running together, J and I both did the 10K today.  I told him on our drive to Winston that since it’s his first/only 10K, it’s an automatic PR!  I went into the race wanting to PR too.  I told myself, I’ve been consistent with my training, stretching, lifting, and foam rolling, and I’ve been eating pretty good so I lost a few pounds (finally, after all the rich food on our Puerto Rico trip!)  Thus, I had decent confidence that today would be a great day.

Nutrition: had leftover ribs and homemade potato fries last night, with rice + avocado, and a side salad.  Breakfast was at 7 (race time at 9, so a tad later than I’d have liked), and I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on toast, plus part of a waffle that Asher didn’t eat.  Felt OK but not great, so I took a pre-race Immodium just in case 😉

Weather: called for 50-52* and chance of rain at 10.  So… of course it rained while we were running, and the temps dropped substantially.  And of course, I didn’t bring enough…

Clothing: I wore my go-to Asics shorts with mesh pockets (holding my car key, and 2 GU’s), my new green shirt from Christmas, Garmin vivoActive, and my black Mizuno’s.

Pre-race: We arrived around 8:20, watched some of the 5K finishers, then chilled (I mean, stayed warm) in the gym.  I hit up the bathroom a few times, and did my lunge–leg kicks–leg swings routine at 20 minutes till 9.  I did a 2-3 min warm-up, with a fast finish, and felt great.  After 2 rest days, my legs seemed refreshed from the beating they took earlier in the week (pace run + yoga on Sat., long run of 8 miles Sunday, weights and plyometrics on Monday… I was beat!).  I took my Chocolate Outrage GU at 8:45-ish and lined up at 5 til.  Gave Javi a good-bye/good luck kiss.  Ready!!

I ended up being very close to the front, even though I didn’t want to be.  I guess I’d rather have people pass me, than for me to do all the weaving and dodging and passing.  So in miles 1-3, my mantra (just like last year) was conserve, and even more so, Run Happy.  I jammed to my tunes, didn’t care about all the people passing me, and just tried to run a decently fast first 5K, without getting too winded.  Before I knew it, I was at the turnaround.  I only allowed myself one glance at the watch, and at the turnaround it read 25:13.  Perfect!  I wanted to beat last year’s time of 50:22, so I knew I was well within my goal time frame.

I grabbed a quick Gatorade during mile 3, and at the turnaround got my Berry GU out.  My stomach felt pretty full, so I wasn’t able to eat all of it.  I washed it down with some water, and away I went!  I knew I’d see Javi during mile 4, so we got to high 5 and I said “I love you, baby!”  Not sure he heard me, since he was jamming too 🙂

The goal of miles 4 and 5 was to “firm it up”, so I was able to pass a few people.  There were more men than women around me, and they were tough to pass.  Guess they didn’t want a lady beating them 😉

My legs were feeling great, but my breathing was getting labored.  Mile 6 was the home stretch, so I set my sights on a lady in a yellow shirt, and finally passed her, only to have another lady pass me.  I really didn’t care today, as I was just running my race and not too concerned about others.  I picked it up around the final corner, felt my watch vibrate at the 6 mile mark, and knew I had just 0.2 to go.  The kids at the finish line were amazing, cheering me in, and I didn’t even realize I passed the lady right at the finish!  I was just so pumped to see the clock say 49 minutes!  Official time, 00:49:53.968.  The person behind me… 00:49:54.237.  Whew, close one!  I bent over for a second to catch my breath, and then went to the gym to grab a banana and stretch.  It was a mad house in there:

I figured J was doing 12 min/mile, so I had a bit of time to stretch and check my stats.  I felt so great about running sub-8 min miles for 6.27 miles.  I wish it had been an even 10K, as I had tried to run the tangents and not get extra distance in there.  But there’s an extra .07… oh well.  I think it would have taken about 30 seconds off my time.  Next time!

Here’s my stats and the map:

I reluctantly headed outside to catch Javi finishing.  The temp had dropped to 42-ish, and I was cold with my shorts and very thin shirt on.  Next time I won’t let hubbie rush me outta the house without my coat!

I took this pic while I was waiting:

After a bit, J came on down the finish chute:

J said the first half of his race went really well, then got a calf cramp in mile 4 and had to stop and stretch.  He ended up at 01:18:23.985.  He said he could have done much faster.  We’ll just have to do another one then 🙂

I found out I won my age group, so we waited for the awards.  Unlike last year when I had to go get the kids, then drive back, I got to hear my name being called and go up on stage:

We headed out into the cold rain.  Shivering by the time we got to the car, which was maybe 0.2 miles away.  Decided to forego our plans to eat at 4th St. Filling Station, and instead took our race coupons to Chik Fil A for some free sandwiches (and got the kids some kids meals!)  Came home to these cuties:

In all, a great run day.  We came home, ate, napped, and chilled the rest of the day!  Tomorrow I need to cook and clean, but today was fun to just run 🙂

What are you up to this spring?