Mankato 10K

It was cold. Way colder than we have ever experienced at Mankato. I had three layers on to start the race, I quick warmed up and wish I only started with 2 but that is par for the course. Ha!

The first mile was a bit slow because I had to stop and tie my shoe twice. I haven’t had to stop to tie my shoe during a race in like 3 years and the fact I had to do it twice in the first mile is crazy. I thought maybe with the cold and untied shoes, today wasn’t my day. I was wrong.

I have always loved this course. Mostly flat in the first 3 miles. A big down hill during mile 4 and then 2 flat miles to the finish. My goal this year was to have a sub 12 minute mile.  I thought for sure that would come during mile 4 but I started my sprint down the hill too late and ended up with a 12:04 miles. DAMMIT! I was pissed, I even cursed myself as I’m flying down the long down hill. I made a point that I was going to get the next one under 12 if it required all my energy. Somehow I managed an 11:55 for mile 5. It took everything I had, but I got it. It also meant that mile 6 I was dead. I took about a minute walk to figure out what I was going to do. I started running and got a 13 minute mile. Not bad considering I thought I was going to have to walk it in. LOL! Overall it was a great race for me. I was over a minute faster than last year so that made me happy. Sadly, this course is very short for a 10K (6.08).

I really had a high coming off that race. But I took a couple days off from running. My next run during the week was a 4 miler on Run Streak Wednesday. That run wasn’t horrible. I ran negative splits but my times were slower than I would like. I went out running Thursday too but that lasted about a quarter mile and walked around the long block so at least it was a mile. That was not a confidence booster!