Race Report: Winter Park Road Race 10K

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I ran my 3rd race of 2011 on Saturday, which was my 5th 10K. I finished in 1:06:50 with a new PR by 1:45 from last year's attempt at this same race! Here are the rest of the stats:

• clock - 1:07:53 
• chip - 1:06:50 
• pace - 10:45.4
• overall - 1466 / 2053 
• ag - 128 / 210 
• gender - 711 / 1149
• splits - 11:32 - 11:10 - 10:56 - 10:53 - 10:05 - 10:25 - 9:05 (.2 in 01:49)
• intervals - 2/1 until mile 4, then 3/1

Pre-Race:
The best thing about this race is that the start is within biking distance of my apartment, which makes for a great warm up, and I don't have to deal with parking. Jason and I rode 6 miles to the start after a little detour because Mead Garden wasn't open yet and we had to double back. It was a little cool when we left the house, so I wore windbreaker pants and jacket over my race outfit and was nice and warm by the time we got to the start. I didn't have time for a warm up run, but I walked around a bit to make sure my legs were loose after the bike ride. I found my place at the start line, connected with a few friends, and before I knew it we were off!


Race:
The race itself is a bit of a blur to me right now, perhaps because I was digging deep and also because the route is familiar (I run these roads with my training group weekly, and I also did the race last year). The weather was perfect for a PR, and I gave it my all. I wore a short sleeved shirt, a running skirt and knee high socks, and was never too cold or too hot.

The first mile was really crowded and I ran it a bit slower than I planned for my initial goal of 1:05 but I knew that shaving almost 3 minutes was a tall order and that I'd be happy with any kind of PR. I picked up the pace a little after that and was cruising along at 2/1 intervals, walking through the water stops to eat -- I ate a few shot blocks before the start, then 1 more at mile 2 and a gu at mile 4. At some point I started only walking for 30s, jogging slowly for the next 30s and then pushing it for 2 minutes. After mile 4, I switched my intervals to 3/1 and pushed really hard for the last 2 miles.

I kept giving myself pet talks, telling myself to dig deep and push it, and that it would be over soon. It's amazing what a little positive affirmation can do :) When I rounded the corner just before mile 6 and saw the finish line clock under 1:08 (my previous PR was 1:08:35), I realized I could PR even by the clock so I dug deeper. I was so in the zone and pushing hard that I missed Jason entirely at the finish line.

Jason came along to be my paparazzi and followed my progress on facebook via Runmeter updates. It's great hearing his comments of encouragement throughout the race. I took manual splits with my watch, and I wonder if the mile 6 marker was in the wrong place because I was pushing hard at the end and don't understand how I could have run mile 6 slower than mile 5. This was a great race, and one of the few 10Ks in Orlando. I really like the 10K distance and wish there were more nearby instead of the plethora of 5Ks.


Post-Race:

After I crossed the finish line, I found Jason and rehydrated while we watched the rest of the finishers and waited for Shannon to finish her first 10K. She did amazing! By the time I made it over to the post-race food, the smoothies were gone so I grabbed a banana before we got on our bikes for the ride home. The weather was still amazing and we had a nice 5 mile bike ride home. My legs were not as tired on the ride back as I expected; maybe I didn't push hard enough on the run =P After showering and refueling, I took a nap before heading over to meet my new nephew and a going away party. I was a bit sore the next day, but wearing the calf sleeves on Saturday helped a ton. I can't wait to do this race again next year :)