Everyone knows that I love this race, love it so much I ran it the day before a Full Marathon last year. Well, this year the North Shore Marathon was cancelled (booo) so it gave me the opportunity to just go out and run the best 10K that I had in me.
Since the kids had no sporting events (we were on a one week break) Mike was able to run it with me. He has a hurt knee and hasn't been able to train so I was wondering how he would do.
When the crazy loud gun went off I took off with the rest of the pack. I started with Heather who always starts up front with the fast peeps and I got caught up in the frenzy of the speedies. The first mile was done at 8:22 and mile 2 and 3 in the 8:30s and 8:40s. By mile 3 the extreme heat and humidity (that I wasn't ready for) began to over come me. Coupled with a day at the beach on Good Friday and poor hydration and nutrition I was hurting! I took a gel at mile 3 but didn't gulp down enough water (dumb!) and just kept pushing as hard as I could for the last half of the race. I knew that mile 5-6 would be tough with the draw bridge hills so I tried to keep some energy in reserve.
As I entered the bridge and into the hot sun I just kept telling myself to finish strong. At the last hill I gave it my all and vowed to pass some people. Leaving the bridge I attempted a late kick onto the grass and passed a few more. I was happy to cross the line at 54:21 which was about a minute faster than the 10K I ran last month. Still not down to my fast times from 2012, but progress is always a good thing. It's nice to know that hard work pays off even in my old age and state of slight over weightiness. :)
After the race I suffered from some weird cramping and it was a good reminder to do better race prep from here on out. :)
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