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Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Let's hear it for the Dads!

Yes, I made my shirt! :)

   Instead of spending Father's Day with my Dad (who is about 550mi away..), I decided to run my first 10k! On Sunday, June 16th, I ran the Plymouth YMCA's Father's Day Run in Downtown Plymouth, MI.  
   My training leading up to this race wasn't stellar...I had been averaging about 3.5 miles every time I had gone out on a run...which was only twice during the week before. We've been having really awesome, cold, rainy weather so far this month and It wasn't making it easy. Plus I've been working A LOT, so I spent more mornings catching up on sleep, than running. So already, off to a great start.  The drive was just under an hour and we arrived at the race location without any issues. Everyone, it seemed was in a good mood and the weather was (thankfully) much warmer than all my other races had been! I got my number and stretched a bit and waited while the 5k started and figured out where the 10k start would be. Eventually people started to migrate up the road and we all gathered around a really big red balloon on the side of the street.  We had to wait a little longer to start than the planned 8:45 start, I think this was because we were going to be crossing the end of the 5k course. I wasn't a huge fan of the lack of organization at the start. People just stood around and waited in no particular order and the start was a race gun with no warning. But off we went!
All smiles at the start!


   It was nice to see so many people in groups and that knew each other from past races that they've run. Most people that I saw had a running buddy. My favorites were all the kids running with their dads. Kinda made me wish I got into running before my dad stopped. 
   The start was fine, no real issues with people bunching up or cutting me off. This crowd was really courteous and the course allowed for people to spread out over the full two lanes of every road.
The first few miles were quite easy and fun for me. Lots of people were out cheering everyone on. There was one house having an early BBQ and put some couches on their lawn for them to cheer from. Another, the front sidewalk was a meeting area for kids with loud banging instruments. Lots of people were out sitting on their porches and enjoying the morning. It was great to see the community out supporting the race!
Yellow is faster, Red is slower....

   I didn't stop for anything for the first 3 miles...that may have been a mistake. Once I finished the first 5k, I allowed myself to stop for some water, but it was difficult to start running again. At 4 miles I could feel my legs starting to resist, but I kept pushing. Nearing 5 miles, I was dying for a water stop and I had to walk a bit despite my mental protests. I knew I was almost done, but just couldn't keep up the pace.  I allowed myself to walk a few times.

   Going into this race, I knew I would probably walk a good portion of it, but since I ran more than half of it feeling pretty good, I started to hope I could do the whole thing without slowing down. I ended up with a race time of 1:03:52 and an average pace of 10:17, I took this one faster than I had anticipated. I also somehow ended up getting 6th in my age group...which I most certainly wasn't expecting! If I'm reading the results right, I got 284th overall...so not too bad for a big race! 
The finish line...just waiting for me...

   Finishing was probably the biggest goal I had for this one. My knee pain has finally started to go away and I'm running at least 5ks regularly. I was worried up until a few weeks ago that I couldn't do this kind of distance on the road. But I have a few times and I finished. I guess that, ultimately, is the goal in every race.
"Oh thank god I'm done!"





   The next race on my plate is "Gopher the Gold" 10k in Shelby Township, MI on July 20th. I'm slowly going to add more miles on to my daily runs to push myself to run the next one. The added challenge in that one, is that part of it is supposed to be a dirt trail, which I never run on...so that should be an adventure. 



   I plan on running the 10 mile Crim race in Flint, MI on August 24th in the "run-up" to the international half marathon in Detroit in October...Eyes on the Prize!

How'd your first 10k go? Are you planning on running anything this distance or farther anytime soon??

1 comments:

Amy said...

I'm so excited to find another beginner blogger!! I'm training to run my first 10K in October. Right now I'm running about 4 miles straight and will be trying to build up from there. Sounds like you did a great job on your 10K - I've learned that baby steps are important!

 

MimsieSky


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