hot damn!!
so, you know how i was shooting for an 8:40 pace? totally didn't happen. i ran a 7:33 pace. completely faster than i was aiming for and the whole time i'm running i'm thinking i'm doing worse than i thought i was. i start the race running with dad and the father of christine (one of the ladies mom works with). about 800m into the race i pull away. i pass the one mile mark at 7:28. i'm thinking, "ok, i rabbited out for the first mile, i'll probably do mile number 2 in 8-something". as i'm running i'm keeping watch of the runners around me, expecting dad and this other guy to pass me. don't really see them so i figure by the time my watch says something like 16 minutes that they've passed me and i just didn't see them. well they didn't have another marker until the 5k point (3.1 miles) and i hit that at 22:38-ish. so i thought "hmm ok, my watch must be wrong." keep running. get a stitch at the 4 mile point or there abouts and run through it. wasn't a bad one, but there was a long uphill that i tried to keep pace on and i paid for it. still don't see dad and the other guy but there are people coming the other way after the turn around, so i'm watching them for dad. get to the turn aroun (big loop through nc state campus) and 200m past that i spot dad, about 300m from the start of the loop through campus. so i yell at him "what the hell am i doing infront of you?" it was the first time in recorded laigaie racing history that i wasn't behind dad in a race. saw mom and christine as they were heading towards the turn around. 5 mile mark comes up and there's a guy standing there reading times. i cross at 38:10. and again i think "there's no way, that's a sub-8 pace. i'm NOT running that fast" (do you catch the pattern of denial here?). we round a corner and the finish is .2 miles away so i start to open up, gonna run hard and sprint the last 200m. quickly put an end to that when after starting to sprint i get the distinct feeling that i'm going to puke. so i just satisfy myself with not slowing down. i hit the line at 47:05-ish and look at my watch which says 46:52. i started my watch when i actually crossed the line, instead of when the clock was started since i was in the back of the pack. i was amazed. my personal best for a 10k before today was a 51:04. dad came in at 50:23 or so. worked out the math and it turns out i ran the whole thing at a 7:33 pace. that's what i used to run cross-country races in. my time at the 5k mark would've gotten me qualified for europeans in high school. i'm still in shock that i ran that fast. cuz the whole time (especially with that stitch) i'm thinking i was running slower than i was. so yeah, i'm really proud of my time. mom and dad want to run another 10k so next time i want to run it at a 7:30 pace. increase speed by just a little. very very good day. :D