Run & Ride 10K

This was my second running of the Run & Ride 10K. I ran their inaugural race last year so I knew what to expect. There were twice as many people this year which was nice. I didn’t feel so lonely in the back. Ha! Eric ran the half so I was literally by myself. Lst year’s race was long…like .07 mile long. So when they made us turn and run longer in the parking lot I knew this wasn’t your typical 10K and I was right. The first mile sucked. It is the parking lot and some gravel path at the back of the park. I didn’t go out full force on this race like the 5K the day before. After we started, I looked behind me and there were only three people. Great! Very back of the pack!

Like I mentioned in my 5K review, I’ve been focusing on individual miles instead of the total run. My goal for the 10Ks is to keep each mile around a 12:30 pace. I ran the first five minutes straight and the broke into my 45/15 intervals. My first mile was 12:22. It was bit slower than I was expecting but it was under 12:30 so I was happy. You know how I mentioned the race was going to be long? Well at their mile 1 marker my watch said 1.25…a quarter mile long! I thought maybe there would be a shorter mile later to make up for this but there was not.

Mile 2 was through the dinosaur park. I stopped briefly while some girl was getting her picture taking by her friend with a dinosaur. No big deal. We came out of the dinosaur park and ran around the front of Valleyfair before heading back out to the parking lot and onto my trail. I’m not sure were the burst of energy came from, maybe excitement from passing the two girls that I stopped for, but I busted out of the parking lot and onto the trail like I owned it. Haha! Mile two was 12:16. Yes a negative split!

When I do this interval running, if I’m close to the end of a mile (like .1 of a mile to go), I will not walk until I hit the mile marker. I start each mile with a 15 second walk and then I run until my pace for the new mile is below 12:15. Sometimes it means I run for 2 minutes straight. But this is my race/my pace, I will do as I please! Mile 3 and 4 were flat and boring but this was my trail so I knew what to expect. I knew how these miles would feel. I was rewarded with a nice 12:12 mile for mile 3 and a 12:09 for mile 4. Both negative splits! Woo hoo! Just before the end of mile 4 was a water stop. Since I always run to the mile marker, I grabbed a water and ran until I got to mile 4. I got a little wet. Ha!

Mile 5 didn’t start out so great. I popped some Honey Stingers into my mouth (they are like energy gummy bears). I never have a problem with them. Sometimes I eat them without water. I’m not sure what my problem was during this race, but I could not chew them or swallow them and the water didn’t help. I had a disastrous start to the mile. I eventually got them down and tossed the cup and went on my way. This caused me precious minutes at the beginning of this mile. This mile zig-zags around The Landing, a historic remake of an 1800’s city. It is very cool to run through and look at the stuff. Another problem with this mile is I got hot. I had to take off my jacket and got all tangled up. I’m sure if anybody was around me, it would have been comical to watch. Even though I didn’t think I’d meet my 12:30 pace on this mile, somehow I barely squeaked out a 12:28.

The last mile was not great. I thought I was doing well but my watch pace went from 12:07 to 13:00. I’m like what the heck. I didn’t think I was running that slowly. It really messed with me. I ran more than walked trying to make up the time but I think that actually was the worst thing to do. I tried this entire mile to catch the old lady that was always just in front of me. I could never catch her. I think that mission helped me get my overall pace for the mile to 12:36. It was over my 12:30 pace I was hoping for but 6 seconds off…I’m ok with that.

I kept running the intervals until I reached the 6.3 mile mark (last year’s distance) and saw that my time was just under 1:18 (1:17:59). Last year I ran the race (6.3 miles) in 1:17:29. I was only 30 seconds off which is incredible since I had Eric running with me last year. I managed to maintain that pace without Eric pushing me. I’m so happy. The last quarter of mile I “sprinted” to the finish. My last half mile was under a 12 minute pace! Just before I got in to the finisher chute I saw the half marathon winner in front of me…yes I got beat by the half marathon winner! But they had a 5 minute head start (lol!). My overall time was 1:19:57, a 12:18 pace (it is exactly what my pace was last year!). I was very pleased with my time.

As far as 10K’s go, this one is tied for 3rd fastest. Technically it is tied for 5th fastest but both of the Mankato 10Ks were very short…like over a tenth of a mile too short. And this is the first one I ran complete by myself!

Eric had an awesome race too. He crushed his previous half marathon record by over 10 minutes and finished at 2:05:45. I was shocked to see him coming into the finish so soon. Way to go Eric!