Race Report: Take a Step For Kids 10k

I waffled about this race for a long time. My good friend Sarah was running it as her first ROAD 10k (after struggling with a crazy hard trail 10k last November) so I was showing up, whether I ran it or not. I figured as long as I was there, may as well be running, right? I knew that I had a 10k AND a 5k PR in me, but my training plan called for 9, so the 10k won today.

This race was held at Independence Grove, a chunk of the Des Plaines River Trail that I run all the time. Yay for home turf advantage! We got there, registered and I warmed up for 2 miles. We were ready to go!

Sarah and me before the start

The weather was perfect - 50s, overcast, slight breeze, but a little humid. They'd called for storms, but we never saw them. I wore a new skirt (an aside: no more long runs in that skirt! a little too small, and after wrangling with the shorts underneeth post bathroom, I have chaffage from a 10k. boo.) and the arm warmers Kim gave me for Christmas (all kinds of awesome - got so many compliments today!). Kim asked me what my goal was for the day, and I told her I was shooting for 57 minutes.

We started out kind of fast. I was running comfortably, but was concerned about blowing my wad too quick. I spent the first mile freaking the eff out that I was going too fast. After a few minutes of this, I told myself to STFU and just run. I rarely looked at my watch after that. I was following a high school ponytail in front of me, trying to keep my breathing in check. I was sad when the 5kers split off, as I lost my pace girl. (miles 1 and 2: 8:59, 9:05)

Miles 3 and 4 I followed behind a girl all in pink. She was running just what I wanted, so I took advantage. She was also wearing headphones, so oblivious of my gasping. Trying not to die here. Somewhere in mile 4, she faded. I passed her and never saw her again. (miles 3 and 4: 8:46, 8:55...wtf?!?!)

I had new pacers picked out now and was really just hanging on for dear life. My legs were doing ok, but my breathing was awful. The course was flat with some rolling hills, and I was going fast wnough that the uphills? KICKED MY ASS. I also was very aware that the course was measuring long. Add that I forgot to reset my watch after my warmup, and there was a lot of muddled mental math happening now. And bargaining. Finally after mile 5 beeped I came to the last water station and I walked and breathed in a cup of water. Then I choked enough that the volunteer asked if I was ok. Not necessarily a great decision, in retrospect, but the water that I managed to DRINK was well worth it. I picked it back up and was now just ready to be DONE. I tried like hell to catch the lady in the neon green shirt ahead of me, but never did. She pulled me hard though, and gave me something to focus on. (miles 5, 6 and the last bit: 9:02, 9:09, and an 8:12 pace for 3:03 for the last 0.37)

Kim took this at the finish line

So. I finished in 56.55 officially, a 3:26 PR. I was SO happy, as I was still not convinced going into this that the goals I have laid out for the rest of this training cycle are reasonable. This proved that I am more than capable.

Yvonne (from our running club), me and Kim. Both of them placed in their age groups!