Sawmill river 10k
I went in saying there's no reason to do worse than 55 minutes, and that 52 is a reasonable expectation. I run without a watch, so entirely by feel and with the ever fervent hope that there will be volunteers calling out splits at the mile markers. Most often, I'm just pleasantly surprised to find mile markers!
My plan for the race was to start off at a comfortable pace, you know, around 8:30 or 8:45, and pick it up a little at mile 4, then pick it up again at mile 5, and push it in at the end. This should have landed me a comfortable 52 - 55.
By mile 3, my legs were getting tired and I was surprised! Around the 5k point, I got passed by a bunch of people. It was disappointing, and I lost sight of the cross country girl I'd been keeping with. I let myself slow a bit and tried not to feel too down on myself.
The hills started at mile 4. Up and level and down and up. Over and over and over. I passed a few of the people who had passed me at 3.2, which felt good, though I was re-passed by most of them around mile 5. I didn't have anything much left to pick up the pace, so continued with what felt like a trudge.
We hit a level spot that was near the end, and started seeing runners coming back at us, so I picked it up. I was feeling good until I saw the 6 mi sign and realised I had another .2 to the end. "I can sprint this", I told myself, "it's less than 2 minutes left". And kept on. With the end in sight, I got the worst lung cramp I have ever had and pace reverted to what felt like a crawl. Since I couldn't get big strides, I at least tried to get good turnover but couldn't get a breath in.
I got across and got my stick, 67th place, but no idea of a time. The lack of air got to me and I got woozy and tried applying pressure to the cramp. Which really freaked out the finish line volunteer, who kept directing me to the first aid lady inside. I couldn't have gotten inside if my life depended on it. I leaned on clay for a while, and he kept telling me, "50! You came in around 50!" Then I remembered to take my phone out of my pocket and turn off run keeper.
My slowest mile was 8:33. My official time was 49:49. I exceeded my own reasonable expectations. After the initial elation, of course, I'm already plotting things I should have done better.