Turkey Trot Results

Here's what I was able to muster up this morning, on a balmy 29 degree morning in lovely Lincolnwood, Il. Let me again preface what my running has consisted of lately; 20-30 miles a week with paces largely going unnoticed. Usually I'd average somewhere in between 7:50-8:30 for my last four weeks post-marathon. I did hit a 6:40 for a three mile stretch in a run about nine days ago. With that being said, I laced up the lunaracers and headed up to Lincolnwood at about 7:45.

I arrived too early and my toes were freezing. I was really planning on racing by feel and if things went well, I could come close to beating my previous 10K best of 43:54 set in August. For those of you not following the blog back then, here's quick recap:

• Tweaked a hammy the two days before caulking the bath tub
• Came out too fast and ran the first mile in 6:20
• Side cramp somewhere in between miles 2 and 3, resulting in 7:30 miles at 3 and 4
  
• Finished with a 43:54, a 7:04 pace
• For the original full recap, go here: http://runningforcru.blogspot.com/2008/08/youll-have-nothing-and-like-it.html
  

Fast forward to this morning. I started about 5-10 seconds off of the starting line, but it was chip timed. I ran through and around some people during the first mile and felt good. It's always a weird feeling coming up on that first mile marker. You never know what it's going to say, especially on a course that you don't really know.

I felt good and felt like I would hit the marker near at a 7:00 or so pace. I hit mile 1 at 6:27. I was feeling good though and found a couple people to run with for mile two. Mile 2 felt pretty good as well. I ran it in 6:37. I lost my little group somewhere in there (not sure if they slowed down or were running the 5K). I came up on the third mile and my watch said 19:51, meaning I just ran the third mile in 6:47. Good news and bad news shortly after that. I was starting to get out of rhythm with my breathing and I just got passed by two people. One guy I had passed in the late in mile 2 and another woman(I think) I hadn't seen. The good news was that I was about halfway done and had two guys in my sights who seemed to be running pretty steady.

Mile 4 felt rough. I must have miscalculated my time in my head, because I thought I put up an 8 minute mile. It turned out to be a 6:57, which perfectly continued the trend of losing 10 seconds every mile. I decided at that point I needed to try to pick it up and finish up strong. There were only 2.2 miles left. I felt better during Mile 5 and ran a 6:50. With just 1.2 miles to go, I decided to run pretty steady for the first 1:30-1:40 of that mile and then try to run the last mile as hard as I could. Some girl seemed to be running at about the same pace for the last 1.2 miles, so I tried to hang with her after she passed me. We were weaving through the 5K runners and walkers at that point. My breathing was still holding up relatively well and I hung with that girl and hit the 6 mile marker. I ran it a a 6:43 pace, leaving just .2 left. I wanted to catch that girl, but she appeared to be putting on a late charge as well. I never did catch her and hit the last .2 in 1:21, giving me an unofficial 41:45 finishing time. The official time was somehow 41:48, which isn't a big deal, but three seconds is a little strange. That translates into a 6:43.6 pace. Very nice.

I beat the Windrunnner 10K mark by 2 minutes and 6 seconds, which is pretty huge. Needless to say, I am very happy with my time and actually think I can do even better. If this turns out to be my last race of the year, I am glad to be ending on a high note. I am not sure I would want to race in much colder weather.

If I don't post again before Thanksgiving, have a great holiday.