Official numbers:

Finish time: 40:00.7

73/1548 OA, 70/832M, 18/227 M40-49

I ran a marathon 3 weeks ago.

First week after, I did not run.

Second week, I ran 30 miles, easy.

Third week, I started doing intervals. Did 4x2 minutes at 5K pace on Tuesday and had 3x5 10K pace workout planned on Thursday. Wednesday, I got an email from a coach I know saying he still had free entries to give away for either the 5K or the 10K. First come, first serve. I said I wanted in for the 10K, and got in. Thursday I ran my 3x5 minutes workout at 10K pace (41:00 10K pace) with 5 minutes jog in between, and they were hard enough. Maybe I could hold that for 41 minutes, but I was not very confident. All that marathon training had left me slow.

That’s what I thought.

Race morning, I was there about 45 minutes in advance. 15 minutes in line for the potty, 15 minutes in line for the bag check, I had 15 minutes to warm up and get to the starting line. I jogged half a mile, and that was my warmup. But I’m good with that. I don’t need much warmup.

I figured I’d head out at 41:00 pace and adjust my pace on feel, as discussed in the dailies a few days before. I wasn't sure what my current fitness was, but it seemed like a reasonable number.

Go! I ran my way through the starting line traffic. To my surprise, it went really well. Time to check my pace. SHIT. My Garmin's pace  was set in minutes per MILE. Not sure how that happened, but that was it. Since we discussed it in the dailies a few days before and had to convert for you guys, I remembered that 6:35 mpm was 41:00 pace. Other than that, I was blind, as I can’t do math at that pace, and I NEVER train with mpm display on my watch. After a brief panic, I decided I’d run it on feel, as I was not going to do good anyway, and this race was just to give me an idea of my current fitness. Hey, it was free! At least my watch was beeping at every km, as I set it that way yesterday (that must be when I switched pace to mpm by mistake?)

1st km was a little too fast, 2^nd km was a bit too slow for a 41:00 finish, but it was all good. I was not holding back due to pace since 6:20, 6:25 mean nothing to me. I knew it meant faster than 6:35, and it seemed like I was seeing more often 20s, 25s and 30s on the right side of the 6: than 35s and 40s, so I was on sub 41:00 pace if I could hold it. I was pretty sure I could it, too, because I was running on feel.

At around 8.5 km, there was a hairpin turn, and I was tired at that point. At 9 km, I picked it up a bit. With 3 or 400 meters to go there was a guy probably in my AG in front, so I passed him, and kept going at that speed to the finish. I had not looked at my watch at all for a while. Pressed "stop", and looked at my time. 40:01. Wow!

I loved running by feel. I can be very good at keeping a steady pace, but running by feel (with some assistance by the watch) is very very cool. Maybe I would not have driven myself in the ground in Boston if I would have run by feel instead of keeping a steady pace. But maybe I would have anyways.

I am delighted by that result (official time 40:00.7). At the same time I have this little regret that I did not run 1 second faster. Just for the number, you know, so it’s not a real regret. And I’m positive I can beat this time in the Spring, so yeah! Motivation for winter training!

Very nice!  It must feel great to know you ran by feel and put up such a great result. Congratulations!

Thank you very much. Temperature was a lot cooler that what you have

This is impressive on many levels, chief of which is it's coming off a marathon. Nice job, that is a great time!

This is impressive on many levels, chief of which is it's coming off a marathon. Nice job, that is a great time!

Thanks.

I'm so glad I ran this. I had pretty much decided I wanted to wait at least 18 months before my next 26.2, and maybe more, because of life obligations, and the fact that it is really hard work training for marathons, and that I lost so much weight it's ridiculous, and the list goes on. My problem was that I had said I wanted to concentrate on the 10k, but the words were said from the brain, not from the heart.

And now I WANT to train for 10Ks.

I still have ways to go before I get to your level, though. I checked your PR this morning before I left 

 At the same time I have this little regret that I did not run 1 second faster. 

As you should.

 

As you should.

You crack me up. lmao

 

As you should.

One little second. Imagine not making the cutoff by 1 little second. NTIWKAAT 

I'm pretty sure I predicted this