This morning I made a last minute decision to run a 10k. I knew this race was very hilly so running even my current best time was out of the question. With that stress out of the way I decided I just wanted to make sure I executed the race well and didn't die on the hills. I accomplished this and am very happy with how I managed the hills and ran the race. My only goal was to keep below an average of 10 minute miles.  I decided I would basically chug up the hills and fly down them. That's exactly how it went.  The splits tell the story of the hills.

mile 1-9:52

mile 2-9:02

mile 3-9:54

mile 4-10:15

mile 5-9:36

mile 6-9:17

last .26 per Garmin-2:14

Overall time per Garmin and race results-1:00:11

Average pace per results-9:42

The race went really well for me. The only interesting moment was at around mile 6.1. I was trying to power to the finish but it started heading up hill again. All of a sudden I was 100% certain that if I didn't slow down a little I was going to hurl my guts up. I chose the slowing down. It may have cost me sub 1 hour but I didn't care. I was super glad not to have barfed on all of those people by me.  That's the first time that's ever happened in a race so that was interesting, but I just dealt with it, the moment passed and I finished strong.

I never thought Id be happy with a 10k over an hour but with the hills and my lack of race specific training it's just fine with me. It was a beautiful course and I will more than likely run it again next year.

I knew this race was very hilly so running even my current best time was out of the question. With that stress out of the way I decided I just wanted to make sure I executed the race well and didn't die on the hills.

There's a lot of truth to that.

It's funny how a few seconds seem so insignificant after it's all said and done, but it's hard to know where you could have got them.

Nice solid effort there, I take it from the name that this is a course full of shade? I would like that too!

I hate uphill finishes. They are cruel and unusual punishment.

Truth.

Nice job. AG placing? What's your training/racing plan from here on out?

Hilly courses suck, seems all I get anymore. My super-hilly half last month had a very steep uphill finish. It was tough, but I managed to power up it pretty strongly & pass some people (without puking). Worse actually was a hilly 5k with a very steep downhill finish. Legs were so fatigued that the downhill was murder on my quads, and practically had to put the brakes on. I think making the most of downhills is the tougher skill, and I need to work on it.

Nice job. AG placing? What's your training/racing plan from here on out?

 

Hilly courses suck, seems all I get anymore. My super-hilly half last month had a very steep uphill finish. It was tough, but I managed to power up it pretty strongly & pass some people (without puking). Worse actually was a hilly 5k with a very steep downhill finish. Legs were so fatigued that the downhill was murder on my quads, and practically had to put the brakes on. I think making the most of downhills is the tougher skill, and I need to work on it.

14th out of 65 AG so not too bad.

I'm not sure what kind of training I'm going to do going forward. I'm still hoping to get enough speed back at some point to qualify for Boston but I suppose I just need to run some marathons and not wait around for the speed fairy to descend upon me. That means marathon training, I guess. In the meantime I'm going to run some last minute local 5ks when the spirit moves me.

great job and agree with the others about those ridiculous uphill finishes. you can build on the experience of running an unconventional race.

 I chose the slowing down. It may have cost me sub 1 hour but I didn't care. 

The .06 cost you the sub-1:00.  Not puking is just smart racing.  

Good job on the race!  Hilly courses are tough but they are a good challenge and certainly make it interesting.

Congrats, the runners around you were probably also super glad you didn't barf on them.