This was my first 10k race, and my goal time was 51:30, or about 8:18 per mile.

My husband and I were looking for an excuse to go to Vermont, our favorite state, so we picked this race. It was located in Irasburg, in Vermont's "Northeast Kingdom". I knew it was out the in boonies, but wow, I didn't realize just how much! It was a *very* quiet, beautiful area in the mountains. I am really not a "picture-taker", but you can see what it looks like here (well worth the click!): http://www.kingdomrun.org/Half_marathon__5K__10K_Run.html .  

We parked about 200 yards away from the race start, which sounds nice but it was a SUPER STEEP uphill walk. Yikes. For a warmup I jogged for about three-quarters of a mile, but again the roads were steep no matter which way you went. I was beginning to have a bad feeling about my goal time...

The race itself was old-school, with tag timing. There was a 5k, 10k ,and half marathon that were all out-and-back, starting from the same point at the Irasburg town square. Each race had its own tag color (purple for 10k), but unfortunately it was hard to see who was running which race during the actual event. But it wasn't really a big deal; I was going for a time goal anyway, not an AG placement goal. The weather was perfect at 62 degrees and a dewpoint of 52.

We took off (10k and 5k racers together) and the first half mile or was noticeably downhill; I made a mental note of this for the return leg. I looked at my watch and realized I was running too fast. My first mile was 8:06, well below the 8:18-ish I was targeting. Oops. I dialed it back for the next mile. Mile 2, as it turned out, had a rather lengthy hill. I was *gasping* for air as I went up it.  The 5k people split off and the race got really quiet; could only see one person ahead of me and could hear one close behind. My second mile time was 9:22. Well, there goes my goal time of 51:30. I was pretty annoyed at myself for blowing it so quickly; yes the hill was a factor, but still. I figured, oh well, I'll just try and enjoy the beautiful scenery since I'll never make my goal time. I saw mountains of course, horses, farms, and even a super-cool treehouse.   At some point I started to see people coming back from the 10k turnaround, so I started counting. I was in 14th place I think, and the 6th woman. Of the 5 in front of me, I thought 4 might be in my age group. (Unfortunately, my age group was the unusual range of 7 to 29, and two of those girls were teenagers for sure.) Mile 3 was 9:13; still pretty far off my goal pace.

I got a big mental boost at the turnaround, and I decided I had to try to pick up the pace. I finished mile 4 in 8:20; right about what I wanted for my average. Somewhere in the fourth mile a guy just *blew* by me like I was standing still. I was really confused about how someone so fast could have been behind me for so long. Then I realized he was a half-marathoner (they were also doing an out-and-back from the same starting point). The HMers had a half-hour head start, and I calculated that that guy was on pace for something like 1:20-1:25. Wow! Super fast for a run in the mountains!

Mile 5 was going down that hill from mile 2, and I really let loose and finished it in 7:50! That's my 5k pace! That mile actually felt great. I was hoping I could pass this woman, possibly in my age group, that had been ~100 yards ahead of me for most of the race, but no way, she just kept widening the gap. Oh well, I still wanted to keep up my pace so no one would pass me. Mile 6 felt good at 8:15. For the last 0.2, which included some substantial uphill, I was going at a pace of 8:20. Finally crossed the finish line at 52:46. I am really shocked that my pace going uphill at the very end, after having run the whole race, was barely slower than my pace going downhill at the start of the race! I have no idea how that happened.

Afterwards, I walked around a bit and stretched. I made sure to get some (or more than just "some") of the fantastic food offerings: watermelon, bananas, cookies, sandwiches, cheese, and best of all, ice cream with fresh blueberries!

Even apart from hitting/not hitting my goal time, I do wish I had gone faster in the third mile...I think I was just mentally loafing at that point in the race because I was bummed about the second mile. I should have shaken it off faster.  But it's ok; not bad for a first attempt at a new distance.  And I'm never going to complain about a weekend in Vermont.

Awesome job, and great time!

Great job! I would kill for your slowest splits 

Docket_Rocket, thanks!  That's funny that I was almost aiming for your exact PR!

FreeSoul87, thank you!  And congrats to you; I saw your race report where you killed your 10k goal!  Good job.

LRB, yeah, I think you are right about a more thorough warmup.  I always think I need to keep my warmup very short, but I am really starting to think that I have to do more warming up if I'm going to race to my potential.  My husband didn't run, although he thought about walking the 5k but decided not to at the last minute.  Maybe one of these days I'll get him running too.   I've got some 5k races coming up and I'm definitely doing a fall half, though I haven't picked which race yet.

tracilynn, haha, thanks!  I'm sure you will get there in time!  Used to be that I couldn't run a 5k at the pace I now do a half marathon at!

reddrum, yeah, I think I am too minimalist with my warmups.  I am going to have to work on that and see what I can figure out.  I have noticed what you describe on my longer runs too; the last few miles are often like 20 seconds faster without trying.

Really nicely done, especially for your first 10K!  IMO 10K is a heck of a long time to be running at that pace, so the fact that you were able to pick it up at the end is a great sign!