Sunday: The Parks 10K Race splits: 7:47, 7:37, 7:46, 7:28, 7:46, 7:43, 1:51 (.2 of the race) total time: 47:57 7:44/average pace
Monday: 5.5m easy 9:00/pace
It was a strange feeling to come home from vacation and only a few days later wake up at 6:00am for a Very Cold, Very Windy 10K race. All I can say is thank Bob it was only a 10K because that’s all I could have handled!
Before I even started this race I had the idea in my head I wanted to run under 48:00, but no matter what i was going to PR since this was my first 10K AND I just came off of a few amazing 1/2 PR‘s so I gave myself a break and took it easy. I’m glad I did because I only had 1 gear for my pace. The course was a flat out-and-back through the Potomac Park. We had views of the Potomac River, the Washington Monument & a lot of fall foliage which was beautiful!
So my one gear didn’t let me “race” people it just let me cruise and “race my own race” as people say. My focus was solely on form and effort. You can literally see my gait and foot strike in the pics below, it’s pretty neat!
close to the finish and still not slouching! yay good form!
midfoot striking!
the push off!
midfoot striking all the way to the finish!
PR Racing put together yet another well organized, easy and fun course for us. If you’re living in the DC area and want to run a smaller race with great swag check out their site for upcoming events.
I finished 76th overall Female & Matt finished 82nd overall Male in 42:55
Surprisingly, I think running a short race right after a vaca might become a habit I can get into. I was being so lazy all weekend and Sunday’s race shot me into full on Runner Planning Mode… How can I become a better runner? How can I run longer? How can I run faster? How can I BQ? When can I start planning next year’s racing schedule? Which 1/2s and fulls do i want to run? What kind of training plans should I use?
Do any of you go into crazy runner planner mode?
shesgoingthedistance.com 
11/04/2013 at 3:58 PM
It is never too early to start planning next year’s race calendar! I have already shared mine with my running coach 🙂 It ends with me running a 50K in December … I was so surprised when she did not laugh at me when I told her I wanted to do a 50K. DREAM BIG right? All this from a girl who still doesn’t have 13.1 under her belt … but soon! This weekend!
Your vacay looked like so much fun! When I was in Jam. in June I went running and only made it 2 miles before collapsing in a pile of my own sweat. Ugh.
11/04/2013 at 9:19 PM
Dude! nice goals. I can’t even fathom a 50K right now. maybe one day when I nail my marathon goals 🙂 Your half is coming up so soon!!! I’m excited for you!
11/04/2013 at 4:24 PM
Congrats on a great race, and great form! I need to be better at not heel striking … but I’m very good at signing up for races, haha! I love racing so much, even if I’m not going for a PR. It is rough on the credit cards, though! Glad you had an amazing vacation!
11/04/2013 at 9:18 PM
I always heel strike when i’m getting tired, i’ve seen it in many race pics haha. And i’m glad i’m not the only one that loves racing, but hates pulling out the plastic 🙂
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