Run for Hope 10K

On Saturday I ran the Run for Hope 10K in The Woodlands.  Leading up to the race I felt less than confident about my ability to have a good or semi-good race.  My most recent speed work runs were not good and totally wrecked my confidence.  Mid week I was hoping for a 50-51 for the race.  By Friday, I was just feeling calm about the race.  In fact, I was so calm I almost forgot to pick up my race packet.  The last time I felt super calm before a race was the marathon.  I decided to hope for similar results meaning a PR!

On Saturday the weather was perfect for this time of year.  It was in the high 50's at the start, kind of sunny, not windy, and most importantly not humid.  That was the thing that I knew would make or break the day for me.  I hate humidity and it hates me.  Being coolish I felt ready to run.

The course was two 5K loops which I was initially nervous to run.  Loop courses have not been my friend in the past.  But, I really liked this course and more so as the race progressed.  I could feel myself feeling more confident.  By mile 3 I figured a big PR would happen.  I was running sub 8 min/miles and not feeling tired at all.  I just kept telling myself to stay in the mile...in the moment and keep on running.

My first mile was 7:57 and the next two were 7:56.  I was beyond excited to run this pace and feel great.  I can honestly say this has not happened to me previously for this distance!  Mile four was good with a 7:49 split.  I was tired during mile 5.  It was a long straight stretch and it was getting warmer.  I was disappointed to be a little slower at 7:52, but I knew this could still be a big run for me.  The last mile was flat with some turns so boredom with straight stretches would not be a problem.  Also, the same crazy guy kept passing me and then falling back.  It was really, really annoying me because he was heavy footed and he had a chain that made lots of repetitive noise...hate that.  Deciding I could no longer focus on him, I knew I had to pick it up and just stay in front of him.  I was so over him and the repetitive noise so I managed the last mile in 7:45.  I was feeling not totally tired and wished at that point that I had run faster.  STILL, I was not sad about my run and picked it up to run a 7:31 pace for the last 0.2.

I could see a 48:xx on the clock as I came to the finish and I just wanted to smile.  Two years ago I just wanted to break 50 minutes for the 10K and now after weeks of frustrating runs I was going to run under 49!  My official time was 48:49!!!!  That is a 44 second PR for me which meant big smiles for me!!!

I was obviously a little slow in stopping my watch!

This was the perfect race for me which I never thought I would say.  10K's are hard for me to race, but this was pretty much perfect.  It was a good confidence booster heading into the Pittsburgh Marathon in two weeks.  It also gave me a little itch to run a 5K.  I would love to get a new 5K PR.  Maybe, maybe.....