Army 10 Miler

Today was the Army 10 miler. The last big race of the season. Due to all my pulled muscles and lack of focused training beyond crossfit, I was not expecting greatness today. In January, one of the fitness goals I set was to run a 10miler sub 1:30. I ran the 2008 Annapolis 10 Miler in 1:30:36 just 9 months after my ACL reconstruction surgery so I knew this goal was attainable.

Today I finished officially 1:30:06 (my watch said 1:30:00). Either way, I beat my previous PR by 30 seconds or so. In terms of PR's in road racing, this isn't too shabby. Considering I've barely run in about three weeks, and my pulled hamstring/gluts, this was a HUGE success in my book.

My strategy today was to run a negative split...slower on the first half, faster on the back half. I totally succeeded in that. The first 5 miles blew by at a nice easy pace--the weather was absolutely gorgeous and I had Chris as a running buddy! At the turnaround on constitution aboutt mile 5.5 I decided to pick it up. . I haven't felt this strong in a race since last fall. It felt really good! Mile 8.5 is killer up the HOV lane of the 14th Street bridge, but I powered through. I trampled a few runners in the last 200m because they were taking their sweet time, but really, I didn't even care! You're supposed to sprint to the finish people!!

It was a great race and I have to give a shout out to Nikki, Michelle, and Brad who completed their first 10 milers!