10K? Good Time.

I think I've only run one race shorter than a marathon since 2004. Decided to do something a little different and ran the XTERRA North Carolina Trail 10K today.

It was held at Beatty Park, where we've been running 3 days a week all summer. Feels like I have every step memorized going clockwise. The race went counterclockwise but I still felt like I had a rhythm from knowing the course so well. Beatty Park is very rooty. My leg and elbow are healing from a fall there last week. It was almost funny running a 10K. I missed the first mile marker and looked at my watch at the 2 mile marker at 15:20. "How could that be? 7:40 miles on a trail? I'm already 1/3 done?" I almost laughed. In reality, I didn't run much faster than I do when I try to keep up with my top girls on hard days. I was a little conservative, not knowing exactly how to run this distance. Strategy was: decent pace for first 2 miles, barely slower middle 2, all out the last 2. I stuck to that. Felt very good. I don't know how to explain it, but my stride felt powerful and longer than usual. Easily flowed over the roots and rocks. The race was pretty uneventful and was over before I knew it. One person passed me early and I passed five the rest of the way. I passed one guy 1/2 mile from the finish. He seemed to be struggling a little, but not that bad. He finished 10 minutes later and they had to call an ambulance & fire truck for him.

I finished in 49:11. 16th overall out of 60? 80? I may have been able to run about 1:00-1:30 faster and risked puking and blowing up. Instead, I went hard but within my limits, finished strong and felt good. I'm happy with it.

Best Week of Summer

Best running week of the summer so far. June was rough coming off a 24 hour race and then gall bladder removal. July was better but H-O-T. This week was my highest mileage of the summer- 82 miles. This week, I got in a 12 miler, a 16 miler, and a 26 miler, along with a hard set of 800s that made me puke and three 6-8 milers.

Ran the 26 miler this morning at the beach- Harbor & Hunting Islands. Left at 5 AM before the sun came up. Lot of lightning for the first 20 minutes. Nearly 100% humidity and around 80 degrees. Soggy for 4 hours. Yuck. Ran almost all on the roads through the marshes. Actually, my legs felt better today than any day this week and I felt perfect afterwards.

Good week!

ps- Fast (for me) tempo run the day after the 26 miler... 13:34 for 2 miles in the middle of a 6 mile run. Felt great!