Summary: Official time 53:03, a 5:29 PR over the same course last year.  Missed my goal by quite a bit, but felt like I ran a solid race.  I was 69/169 OA, and 6/30 in the 30-39 AG.

Today I ran the Corvallis Fall Festival 10K.  It’s actually only my second 10K, and my first one was this same race last year, when I was very happy to come in under an hour.  This year, I was hoping to beat last year’s time by a minute per mile, because how many times in your life do you get that sort of opportunity, right?

I was off for the spring and most of the summer with a knee injury, and have only been back to quality work for the past 6 weeks or so.  My main training focus is a half marathon in November, so I didn’t really cut back this week other than to shorten my LR a bit and run it on Friday.

Prerace: It is so stormy here that they canceled today’s Fall Festival except for the race.  We have been getting heavy rains and strong winds all weekend.  Luckily, it wasn’t that bad this morning.  It was raining but not pouring, and the wind was fairly calm.  Temps were in the mid-50s.  I ran my 2 mile warmup in a hoodie, raincoat, and gloves, but I made myself ditch all 3 in my car before the start.

I ran a 5K a couple of weeks ago and didn’t have a great race, so today’s plan was to ease into my pace and then try to pick it up.  I was thinking I’d run my first 2 miles at 8:30, then try to get down to 8:20 for the next 2, then see what I had left.

Today’s race had a 5K and a 10K, and for whatever reason they start the 5K first.  It was chip timed, but they only had a mat at the finish, not the start.

Start: I felt like I was lining up too far forward, but the next row behind me was a herd of people in matching shirts and some kids, so I didn’t want to move back.  It turns out I was too far back and had to just go with the flow for a while.  Then we hit the back of the 5Kers.  Luckily it was pretty wide by the point.  I knew I was really slow compared to my goal, but tried to just relax and ease into my race pace.

Mile 1- 8:37.  I was starting to even out.  My hands were super cold and I wished that I had gloves.  I got passed by a couple, and the girl was in her sports bra, so I told myself to suck it up.

Mile 2- 8:27.  About perfect.  We split off from the 5K somewhere around here, and it suddenly got a lot quieter.  The course is a loop, and the turnaround is before the halfway point.  This part was an out and back, so I got to see the leaders coming back through.  Two guys from my running club were dueling, but weren’t so close to each other at this point.  They finished the race within 7 seconds of each other, though!

At the turnaround, there were three of us together: me, the girl I was passing, and the girl in the lilac shirt who was passing both of us.  Too many people all trying to go around a cone!  I decided that I needed to keep Lilac in sight.

Mile 3- 8:36

Mile 4- 8:19.  I swear they were both run at the same effort.

I was having a hard time pushing myself, but on the other hand I felt like I was running really well.  Everything felt good, I just did not feel like running any faster, hehe.  I was breathing well, thanking the volunteers, and at least feeling confident instead of ragged.  Somewhere around here I crossed a road and somebody called my name from a car.  I couldn’t see who it was, though.

We were on the road in one part, and there was an intersection with a pretty deep puddle on both sides, and a single-person-width dry spot in the middle.  It would have been great, except that there was a car that went through right at that moment, splashing me and taking the only dry spot.  I yelled, “Fuck cars” to the volunteers and flipped off the driver.  Then I realized that people might think I was serious instead of joking, so I started to laugh.  Then I realized that my laugh sounded kinda scary, and they were probably all wondering what was wrong with me.  Oh well.  Hollering a bit did give me a boost, though.  It was easier to run for a little bit.  I really hardly ever swear IRL, honest!

Mile 5- 8:33

Somewhere in here I realized that my hands were no longer cold.  I was glad I hadn’t brought my gloves after all!  I still had Lilac in sight, plus the girl in the Orchid shirt that she had passed.  I realized that I must not be running hard enough if I still knew words like Orchid and Lilac, but I didn’t care.

I had been closing in on a guy for a couple of miles now, and finally drew even with him.  But he was holding on and kept pace with me.  I looked over, but he wouldn’t make eye contact.  He picked it up, but I didn’t think I was ready to really push to the end, so I let him go.

I remembered that in my 5K, I had been outkicked by the only two people who were nearby.  Was I going to lose to this guy, too?  Maybe I’m not much of a competitor, really.  Or maybe we’re both pulling each other to go a little bit faster.  One woman did pass me in here.  She was only the second to pass me after the first mile.

Mile 6- 8:36

I passed my husband’s cousin (she wasn’t in the race), and we headed back through campus and towards the finish.  Time to step it up.  Fast and smooth, and my legs responded.  It felt good to run fast.  When the finish line was in sight, I started my kick for real, and it was solid.   I breezed past that guy (chicked!) and was closing on Orchid and Lilac at the line.  They finished 13 and 15 seconds ahead of me.

Last 0.24- 7:41

Final time via Garmin: 52:57.  Official time 53:03 (no starting mat)

I felt pretty good after the race.  I congratulated the guy from the finish, and we both agreed we had run faster because of the other.   I got a post-race stretch and some good advice from the PT tent that was set up there.  He thinks that what I’ve been thinking is a tight piriformis is really mostly my obturator.  I’ve never even heard of that muscle before!  He says I should stretch more, and he is probably right.

Final thoughts: I feel good about this race, though clearly I had a lot left at the finish.  I don’t know whether it’s sandbagging so much as I haven’t really developed the mental ability to push myself into sub-LT territory and hold it there.  I kind of feel like I ran this race like a mini-HM instead of a 10K.  Then again, I think I like the HM distance better, or will, anyway, since I’ve only run two races longer than a 10K.  Maybe as I get more experience I will be able to push myself a little bit more without worrying too much that I’m going to melt down or something.  I did like the more relaxed start, though.  Two weeks ago, I tried to hit my goal pace right from the gun, and that maybe didn’t set me up to run my best.

I’ve got almost two more months until my HM.  I don’t know if I will race again before then.  There is a hillier 10K in two weeks.  I’m considering running that at HM pace/effort as a training run, but haven’t made up my mind just yet.

Great job!!!  Yes, the hands take the longest (at least for me) to warm up but they eventually do. I have a pair of mitten-type gloves that you can flip the fingers out of once the hands get warm but sometimes I just ditch the gloves altogether knowing that the hands just take a long time to warm up.  (These, of course for my So Cal winter runs which rarely get down into the 40's) 

As for the different times at consecutive miles with similar efforts, I'd say that it does surprise me sometimes but I've noticed that even the slightest things like a headwind or gradual rise in elevation or even just a difference in terrain sometimes will create a difference like that.  Who knows but I know it happens to me.

But congrats on your race & you're right on track for more PR's to come.

A 5 minute PR!  Whoo!

I had to chuckle about your fuck cars line.  I could imagine the maniacal laugh.  

Great job Melanie!  Very strong and consistent.

I've never heard of the muscle either. Sounds like it should be a Type of dinosaur.

Zel, congrats on a strong race, you did great! The top part of the "final thoughts" section is similar to the way I felt about my 5k yesterday.

Melanie - congratulations on a well run race.  A 5 minute PR after all your time off with the knee is considerable.  You might consider polypro gloves - they're light and thin and fit easily into a pocket if you do get too warm.  So how do you stretch your obdurator?  Same as for piriformis?

Congrats Zelanie!

"Fuck cars" and the Lilac and Orchid situation made me laugh.  Nice report. 

Jay- Thanks!  Not the comedy gold you served up in your marathon, but I tried.