Headed down to the park with a nervousness in my stomach, part due to the race & part due to all the faces I would run into. I think that part of me considers the park my home, coveting it in a very selfish way.
As over 1000 runners made their way down to the transverse, it was great to be immediately surrounded by friends. After brief hellos, I headed down to the start with A, R & J. My plan was to run the first loop slow & do what I could the next two. But my idea of how the race will go never pans out. I started off much too fast, running the first mile in 6:49. I made a conscious effort to slow down, but that is a big feat for me...especially in the first few miles of any race. My pace varied, depending on the mile, but basically each loop went something like this: 6:49-7:05 for the miles around the lake; 7:10-7:20 for the miles around the transverse; 7:30-7:45 for the miles on the evil hill.
Mile 8 was by far the most difficult, I just held my breath as I watched my time slow on the third hill. I ended up letting two girls pass me in the last two miles, which was disappointing to say the least.
But overall, the race was wonderful. I ran 2+ minutes faster than I did in 2008 & felt great the whole time. The cheering from the crowd each loop around was amazing...I felt like 10-20 people knew my name each loop. My own version of being a celebrity for the day. And I guess my time improvement means that I do have more in me, just need to figure out a way to harness it.
Distance: 10 mile race + 1 mile warmup/1 mile warmdown
State of Mind: One day at a time
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