Monday, February 10, 2014

Strawberry Plains 10k - race recap

The details -
When - Saturday, February 9, 2014
Where - Strawberry Plains, TN
What - Strawberry Plains 10k/Half marathon
Weather - 38 degrees and cloudy



For the past few years I have not only ran this race but volunteered. Actually, my first time ever at this race I volunteered only. This race is one of my favorites. I typically would choose to run the half (and have in the past) but this time the 10k was on my schedule. I was thankful for that! Given my last race (10 miler a few wks ago) I wasn't overly thrilled to be racing at all but definitely was glad to be running the shorter of the 2 distances.

I had a very off week last week. I only got in 2 of my scheduled runs and one other workout due to my body not cooperating. I will get into that more, but let me just say that as a result I was totally unsure of how things would go on race day.

Since I was volunteering for food prep we had to be there by 6:30am. Worked out well for us. It gave me plenty of time to get up, dress and eat before we needed to leave. I usually struggle with pre-race morning breakfast but on this race day things were perfect. I should make myself a huge note of that and keep doing that for every race day. Note about food prep - I made a bazillion and 42 peanut butter sandwiches on race morning. I may never eat a pbj again.

About 20-30 minutes before the race start my running friends and I got ready to head outside for our warmup. I was pretty chilled when we started out but was happy after a mile in to be warm enough that I wouldn't freeze during the race. My lungs felt great and my body was doing well. 1.5+ warm up and we headed to potty one last time before lining up. Since I had eaten breakfast at 5am and race start was 9am I decided to take a gel before the start.

We are usually advised to line up close to the start so as to not have to dodge walkers. I knew what my start pace should be (9:00-9:10) and felt pretty good where we placed ourselves in line. Once the gun went off I was a bit faster going out than needed so I tried to slow up a little to save energy when I would need it. I felt good. Really good considering my week and the pain I'd been having.

The plan was 9:10-9 to start and then speed up, however here are the actual splits:
9:00
9:22 (dropped a glove, stopped to go back and pick up. DUMB!)
9:17
9:15
9:19
9:13
1:32

Overall, I am really pleased with my race. I didn't hit my paces according to the plan BUT I was consistent and felt good the  entire time. Other than the one tiny walk break to pick up my glove that I had dropped I don't think I'd do much differently. This wasn't a 10k PR for me but since it's the first time running this course it is a course PR.

Where did I finish up?

Garmin time - 56:59
Gun time - 57:01
Chip time - 56:58

95/284 overall

and..... 1st place Athena! I'll take that since it wasn't close to being a PR race for me.I scored an awesome beanie, scarf,  and gloves (to replace the ones I ditched, goodbye Nikes).


It was really great to run with my friends and team mates. We all celebrated our own victories on Saturday. Several of us placing in our age/divisions and setting new PRs.

Did you race this weekend or finish a long run? How'd it go?

3 comments:

  1. You are so speedy!!

    I think I may have asked you before, but what is Athena again?

    ReplyDelete