10k race report and pics

Done and done!

The 10k was a huge success. I didn’t PR, but I’m really happy with my pace. I averaged 7:41 miles and finished in 47:42. It was a great race with beautiful scenery, a small and friendly field, flat and accurate course. The weather was absolutely gorgeous- clear and sunny and temps in the 50’s.

My speedy legs showed up which was nice, and I had plenty of energy and focus for the task. I did a little warm up (.8 mile to get an even 7 for the day) and we made our way over to the start, where I seeded myself up front-ish (not chip timed). I started off at a strong but comfortable pace and ran a negative split. It definitely felt harder toward the later miles but never really hurt. I think I managed a good balance between pushing myself and killing myself.

It was an out and back, so as we neared the turn around I started counting the women in front of me and I was in 10th place. I forgot to account for the fact there was another race going on – a 30k distance – and some of those women were running that (pretty freaking amazing pace for 18.6 miles, eh?). I passed two women on the way back and was super psyched to finish 8th place female. After I checked the final results I realized I was actually 5th place woman in the 10k! I also took first in my age group. So cool.

Mile Splits:

7:36, 7:46, 7:42, 7:50, 7:28, 7:28, 1:39 (7:28 pace)

Official results:

47:42 (7:39 average pace)

1/21 Age Group (25-29)

5/167 Overall Female

33/245 Overall

Deana did amazing, I’m so proud of her. I saw her on the out-and-back and we high fived. She wasn’t that far behind me and looked great. She really pushed hard and finished in 55:49 (9:00 pace). I was really impressed! The cool thing is that they give out age group ribbons 6 deep and she placed 6th! So it was very neat to stick around for the award ceremony and receive our ribbons.

We drove back to my apartment in Portland where Zach had a delicious brunch waiting for us. Carmel french toast bake, sausage links, and blueberry mimosas. It was heaven! We recapped the race for Zach and looked at our pics. After Deana and I got cleaned up we all walked down to the waterfront where there were sooo many people out enjoying the beautiful spring weather. We strolled along the path down to the Saturday Market and watched the people and the cherry blossoms and just soaked it up. Zach and I finally made our way home and sat up on the roof for the rest of the afternoon reading, and then we made a pizza and watched a couple movies. What a perfect day!!

Of course, I had one more big chore to take care of this weekend: a 17 mile long run. Thankfully my legs were not really sore at all so it wasn’t that bad. Zach and I drove up to Marine Drive where he did 14 miles (for those who are wondering, he is training for the Newport Marathon which is June 5th. He is in incredible shape and did today’s run at a 7:20 pace. He really needs to update his blog..). I was a little bored and had a hard time focusing, but kept my legs moving and got it done.

Sunday

17.0 miles/2:31:27/8:55 average pace

total miles for Week 4: 50!

8 weeks to Eugene!

Lots of pictures, enjoy! Thanks for reading.