Tonight was my fourth Saunders 10k; it's one of my favorite races, it's super flat (with the exception of one hill at mile 3) and the starting line is only a mile and a half from our house. It was the first race I ever did in 2009. At that point, I just wanted to finish as I had never run further than six miles. I ended up finishing in just under an hour, and from thereon, wanted to keep running road races. One of the cool things about the Saunders 10k, is that you have to 'win' a t-shirt; only a certain amount of t-shirts are given out, and you have to place within a certain percentage of your age group. In 2009, I didn't win a t-shirt, but made it a goal to get one the next time I ran. I didn't run the Saunders 10k again until 2012, but did win a t-shirt that time. In 2013, I again won a t-shirt, and got my fastest 10k time to date at 51:09. This year, I wasn't sure what to expect. At last month's 10k in Dover, I had a rough race, I had a hard time with my breathing and was really overheated. It was super hilly, and I started out way too fast. I finished in 53 minutes, not horrible, but still frustrating. My goal tonight was to just do better than I did at the Dover 10k; if I did better than I did last year, than that would be a huge bonus.
In my marathon training plan for this week, Angela (my coach), suggested that I keep the pace around 8:20-8:30. Angela's really cognizant of what my goals are, but still sets challenges that won't burn me out, or injure me.
The Saunders 10k is always held on the third Thursday of August at 6pm; it's a strange day and time for a race, but it works! I didn't run yesterday, and I made sure to get a lot of rest today leading up to the race.
Here's what I ate before the race:
-Breakfast: Everything Bagel (plain) w. Latte (2% milk)
-Lunch: Salad w. black beans, brown rice, non-fat chipotle yogurt, salsa and tortilla chips (made courtesy of the Green Bean
-Snack: my new food obsession (They only sell them locally at the Juicery...they are just so good when I want chocolate!)
-Pre Race: Generation UCAN shake (I started drinking Generation UCAN a few months ago, not for every run- it's expensive! I have hypoglycemia, and it really does help stabilize my blood sugar. I'm still not sold on the taste unfortunately.)
Pre-Race:
I went into work early with the intention of heading out early so that I could get home, get changed, and have something quick to eat. I did pretty well with getting out of work on time; I was able to get dressed and have the Generation UCAN shake. My friend Nicole was going to be coming over and we were going to do our warm-up together by running the 1.75 miles to the start line. Nicole arrived shortly after I finished getting ready and we were able to do our warm-up and get situated in line with 5 minutes to spare. We weren't sure where to place ourselves in the line-up, but afterwards, both agreed that we should have been further up. Nicole is a really good runner, so I didn't expect to be able to keep up with her for the entire race. We decided that we would run together for as long as possible, and connect again at the finish.
Race:
The gun went off and it was slooooow going getting over the start line, and making it through the crowd! We wove around a lot of people and settled into a good pace- there was one slight uphill at the end of Mile 1 (7:42)
Mile 2 was mostly flat with some downhill- we both figured that we would try to coast until after Mile 3 (7:58)
Mile 3 has the one hill of the course! I kept thinking that I should slow down, but I was feeling good! (8:00)
Mile 4: I told Nicole that I was going to hang back, she was planning on doing her last two miles at a faster pace. I tucked behind her, and put my music on...which didn't come on! (7:45)
Mile 5: Starting to get tired, I had planned on listening to Spotify on my iPhone, and it wasn't working as I couldn't get reception! (7:45)
Mile 6: Really tired, but excited to almost be done! (8:00)
.25 Mile: I saw my friend Laurie walking back to her car (she's super speedy, she finished in 42 minutes!) and I saw my friend Karla with a bunch of my Sixo3 team members by the start line (Karla was also super speedy in 43 minutes!) That was a big boost and help to hear them cheering! (7:30 avg pace for last quarter mile.)
I saw the finish line, expecting to see something close to 51 minutes....but it was 48 minutes!!!! I finished in exactly 48:54- a three minute PR!
Post Race:
Got a popsicle stick to claim my t-shirt, and saw Nicole (also, super fast in 47 minutes!)
and then,....I did not feel so well. I'm not sure what happened, but I had to run into the woods, and had to throw up. I have never had that happen after running (I didn't even feel horrible when I was running!) I was so embarrassed, Nicole came over with crackers, and that helped a lot.
There is a huge beer tent post-race; however, as much as I love my beer, my stomach was still queasy. We ran a cool down back to my house which helped a lot!
Saunders 10k Tshirt!
Our Six03 Team!
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