Notes
I ran my long run (22 miles) on Friday and an easy 10 miles on Saturday. Ran with Lisa, the race director of the SMSG 5 & 10K so got to thinking since I ran my long run on Friday maybe I could run the 10K on Sunday. I went out to Rock Bridge to run a few miles on the trail at 6 am and if that felt okay, I planned to go run the 10K at 8 am. I ran 4.5 easy miles on the trail with Dan S. and Karen which felt okay other than it was getting pretty warm.
There was a line to sign up when I got there but went pretty quickly since they were having us fill out the forms while standing in line. I ran a mile to warm up but not sure that was too necessary considering it was nearly 80F. This year the 5 and 10K had different start and finish lines and different courses. The 10K started about 5 min after the 5K. There was no getting lost since there was only 1 turn on this out and back course.
I had already run 63 miles for the week at the start line and it was hot. Legs actually felt okay, but planned to keep the pace easier than usual for a 10K due to the heat. A few guys started out faster and I passed 3 of them before the first mile and then was in 2nd place. The guy in 1st had a big lead. I had a 6:32 split at the first mile and 6:38 in the second mile. The 3rd mile slowed down a little to 7:02 and was really looking forward to a drink at the turn around. I stopped to drink my cup of water and then could see a couple guys were pretty close since they were almost at the turnaround.
I headed back and didn't look behind me. The next mile up a hill was tough and slowed down to 7:29 which included my brief stop at the water. At one point I thought I heard a guy breathing behind me but no one passed me and then didn't hear anyone. Once I got over the hill, I picked up the pace a little and ran mile 5 in 7:01. I resisted the temptation to look behind and attempted to keep my pace. The last mile went up a bit and I turned the corner at about 5.9 to head to the finish. I noticed a runner probably within a minute behind but was pretty sure he would not catch me. Ran the 6th mile in 7:16 and the last 0.2 mile in 7:05. Finished 43:14 with a 7:00 average. The 17 year old winner was just under 39 minutes. I placed second overall and 1st in my age group 40 - 44.
Enjoyed seeing and talking to several runners before and after. This was a fun race and seemed to go off smoothly with the 2 different distances. Looked like a good turn out for a hot day too. It was 87 by the time I left the award ceremony. I had wiped off with a towel after and then broke out in a sweat all over again standing in the shade. My shorts were completely soaked today. The out and back course was the same as the Runner's Choice that I run in January and has always been a tough course for me and the heat added to the challenge. I have not taken a day off running in 20 days but felt like the heat was more of a factor than any fatigue.