CRIM Festival of Races 10 Miler

10 Miles - 1:16:12 - 7:38 Pace

This is a pretty cool race. First time running it. I wasn't ready for this race and I knew it, I had run 21 miles on Tuesday, so I was still sore and beat by Saturday morning. I was thinking I might not run and save myself. However, when we showed up to register, I had been seeded at 506, so I got to start with all the studs. I was surrounded by a few Kenyans and some other folks who were a lot faster than myself. This got me pumped up.....too pumped up.

Fairly disappointing race today. Race well above my goal pace, had to walk for two minutes, and just wasn't feeling it. There was the 21 miles I ran Tuesday which killed me, then the fact that I got up late and we were running to the start line. An probably the one that got me the most, starting with all those studs I began the race way too fast.....at about a 6:29 pace, about 25 seconds faster than my goal pace. That lasted for about 3 miles till the hills hit, then I just went down hill from there which ended with me having to walk at miles 8.

I did get to run next to Bill Rogers for a few miles, so that was great, big legend on the Marathon circuit, and starting up with the Kenyans was great, just wish I was a little more prepared. next year I will know what I am getting into and be a little more prepared.

Striders Saturday Classic 10 Miler

10 Miles - 1:12:36

What a beautiful day for a run. It was about 57 this morning, cloudy, and very little wind. My first 10 Mile race today, the Striders Saturday Classic. The course was an out and back, it was said the first 2.5 Miles were fairly flat, and the second 2.5 were a bit hilly. This last statement was a little under emphasised. These were large hills, multiple one, steep ones, long one. So with the out and back, it made the middle 5 Miles and up and down affair. I more that certainly underestimated these hills. The way out was not too bad, and I felt really good, that would be because even though there was a lot of up and down, we were for the most part running down, so on the way back, man.

With that said, my goal was to run 7:20 miles, this is based of an estimation of where I should be on this race for me to run under 2 hours in the 25K in may. My mile times were right around 7:16, just 4 seconds slower than my 10K times last week....I was pretty pumped. Now my official time was a 1:12:44 or something, but we didn't use RFID chips, and I started in the back of the herd. So I used the time on my watch, which was pretty accurate because they had a painted while line on the road for the start and finish, so it was easy to get it right.

Lets see.....oh yeah, lets talk pain....hardest run I have ever done. I actually got dizzy around mile 8 or 9, I am not sure. Am my legs went numb. When I finished, I had a hard time seeing straight. Pretty tough run for me, but worth it.

Unfortunately no one ran with me on this race, I did see my friend Pam Nauta again, her and her boyfriend Hank are at all the races, and they usually both win their divisions, with Hank always finishing the the top 10 overall. Good runners. And of course my good friends Markiel and Analou Schoonmaker made it to see me finish... Real good kids, Mark would have ran but his knee was hurting. Made it more enjoyable having them there.

So next is the Fifth Third 25K....well.....after a lot more training.