As a relatively last minute decision (OK, earlier this week, but that's last minute for me!) I decided to run the Runtex 10 miler in Georgetown. Suellen leaves for Rhode Island tomorrow, so it'd be our last chance to run the same race while she was down here.
I treated this as a training run, but did want to run it fairly hard. So I did my normal schedule of running and biking earlier in the week.
The crazy cold spell that hit Austin on Thursday was still here, it was 19 degrees at the start in Georgetown at 8am. But luckily no wind, and plenty of sun. My face was frozen after a mile warmup before the race, but I'd dressed pretty well otherwise. A couple layers on top and tights, and two layers of gloves.
I wanted to run the race at around my goal pace for the 3M half marathon (which is in 2 weeks). That would put me at 7 minute miles. Coming up to this race I was a little nervous, that just seemed like a pretty fast pace. But since I was doing it half for fun, I figured if I blew up before the end it would at least tell me something.
Several of the Riff Raff running group were there, and we hung out inside the high school to stay warm before the start. As cold as it was, and this being Texas, none of the runners wanted to go out to the start line until the last minute. When I did my warmup there was no one at all at the start even 10 minutes before race time :)
But eventually we all got out there. This race had a 20 mile version, which most people were doing, and then 10 miler for those of us not training for a marathon. I lined up about 5 rows from the front, got my iPod going, and went over my mental race plan:
I was going to take the first mile a little slow, at 7:10-7:15, then settle in to my 7:00 pace. As we started off it was a bit crowded, but thinned out quickly. The pace didn't seem too bad, and it was a little warmer with people around.
We wound our way out of the high school parking lot, and on to the rural roads east of Georgetown. The course was rolling hills, which I liked. The ups weren't too steep, and there was always a down before or after to gain some time on. The first mile went by at 7:11, and I started to pick it up.
During the first couple miles I saw a couple women running a little ahead of me, around the 7 minute pace, but it looked like they were hardly working! The pace was comfortable for me, but not that easy :) I tried to just run my own race and not worry about them.
Surprisingly the miles just clicked by, and I was a bit under my goal paces, with a 6:53, 6:53, 6:58 and 6:58 for miles 2-5. I always had some mental barrier about running sub 7's, but seem to have beaten it over the last month. The pace felt controlled and not too crazy.
At the turnaround I counted the other women who were ahead of me, and saw I was in 4th place. The two girls I'd seen before were a quarter mile ahead. I decided to just try to keep up with them, and possibly catch up.
As we headed back I was picking up the pace a little, and it was going smoothly. A 6:49 and 6:46 for miles 6 & 7, then a 7:01 when we went back up the biggest hill of the course.
By now I knew I was really having a good race and could probably do a sub-7 average. The two girls I'd been chasing separated a bit, and I concentrated on the one who had fallen back a little. Every mile I was getting a little closer, but the finish was coming up fast. After a 6:50 for mile 9, I decided to try to pick it up and close on her.
We turned into the school with less than half a mile to go, and I was bout 50 yards back. I got within 15-20 yards, but just didn't quite have the strength left to pass. As we came up on the finish I was about 4-5 seconds behind the other girl, but didn't really feel like trying to sprint ahead of her. I'd run the 10th mile in 6:41, and finished as the 4th overall woman in a time of 1:09:09. My average pace was 6:55. I didn't think I could run that strong for 10 miles!
That time was also my best ever for 10 miles, by over 2 minutes. I definitely run better in the cold weather!
After I finished I jogged back a mile or two and found Suellen, who was doing well in her race too. We ran together to the finish and went for a celebratory milkshake afterwards :)
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