Hawaii Pacific Alliance Women's 10K

Had an awesome race this morning.  I wasn't sure what to expect since I have been sick and inundated with Mommy Duty the last two weeks.  I went in with my usual, "Just run for fun and finish the race" attitude and the support of my fabulous running girl friends.

This race is a fun one because it's women's only and everyone is upbeat, having fun, wearing cute clothes, and running with friends.  What's not to love about cute clothes and girlfriend time?  I chose a sassy bright pink skirt with tons of ruffles and painted my nails bright glittery pink to match.

When the gun went off I took off at a pretty good pace and began weaving through the crowds.  My cough has been bothering me but when I am running it seems to be okay.  I sucked on throat lozenges just in case.  At the first hill I pushed hard and passed as many people as I could.  I was at about a 9 minute mile and was feeling strong so I decided to try and push it.

Last year this was the fastest race I ran (55:54) and in the back of my mind I was wondering if I would be able to beat the time.  The wind was blowing hard and strong into my face which made me cold and slowed me down but I stayed as mentally focused as I could.  I continued to check my watch periodically and saw that I was doing pretty well.  At the 5K mark I was on pace to finish at about the same time as I did last year so I decided to push a little harder. I reminded myself that all I had left was a measly 3 miles and to leave it all out on the road.  I pushed hard and at Kahala Avenue ran into a friend, "H."  I began to push hard up the incline and when I got to Triangle Park took a fast sip of water so that I could gun the last 2 miles without having to worry about a dry throat.  I then got ready to begin the last climb of Diamond Head and reminded myself how many times I ran this route.  "Own it!" I said and ran hard.  At the top of the mountain I ran into another friend, "J."  She was finishing strong and she pushed me to do it too.  As I got to the bottom of the mountain I told myself to run hard and finish strong.  Kick at the Tennis Court.  That last .2 miles was tough but I finished hard and had a great time.

I ended up with a 53:37 good enough for 69th over all and 6th in my age group.  That was a great improvement over last year's 55:54 and I am sooo happy.  After the race I got a nice free massage, lots of goodies and met up with the girls.

After we relaxed a bit the running crew did a cool down run to check out the course for next week's Hapalua Half Marathon.  While we run Diamond Head all the time.  We have never run the opposite route that goes up Monserrat Avenue.  I am really glad I took a practice run today to be mentally ready for next week since these killer hills cover mile 9-13 of the route.

All in all it was a fabulous Girl's Day.  Got 10 miles of training done and had fun day running with a PR.  :)