Notes
75 deg with 73 dew point.
Plan was to run the 10K as a progression tempo from 5:35 - 5:25 pace.
I started out around 5:30ish pace for the first mile and had some company. It was me, a Kenyan-born runner Jacob Korir (found out after the race) and my friend Marty Muchow, a 50 year old Colonel who can still run 55-56 minutes for the 10mile. At about a half mile later (1.5 miles), my friend Marty fell back and it was just me and Korir. I continued to run the same pace with the intentions of slowly picking up the pace over the last half. Korir ran behind me till about 3.5 miles, when I started to slowly pull away from him. I was still feeling pretty good after mile 5, but I just did not have the motivation to go any faster and push the pace down to 5:25 or slightly under, especially in the warm and humid conditions. The last mile is a slight gradual incline and instead of pushing the pace I just tried to stay smooth and run the same effort. However, I did put in a little sprint in the end to dip under 34 min (33:56).
Korir, who finished a little over a minute behind me, ran 52:54 in last year's Army Ten. He's coming back from an injury and is getting back his fitness. Since he'll be on the post-team, we should be able to get in some training runs together.
Overall, I'm pretty happy with how I felt during the run. 5:30 pace felt smooth and comfortable.