Novartis 10K – Race Recap

Another weekend, another race!

This morning, I drove down to Lincoln to run my very first 10K race! I was looking through my race recaps the other day, and couldn't believe that I had never done a 10K before. I decided it was about time...and luckily enough there was a great one nearby!

Pre-run breakfast was my old standby: English muffin with almond butter, banana, and some Gatorade. I also had some coffee because I was worried I'd get a caffeine headache during the race. (Probably a sign that I need to cut back...)

The race was at 9:00, which I was grateful for because I had an hour drive + packet pickup to do in the morning. On my way there, it was really foggy and grey out. I was worried it would be hard to "wake up" for the race!

I was also a little nervous because I wasn't quite sure how to tackle a 10K. I mean, I knew I could run the distance, but I wasn't sure what pace I should/could keep. I think the 10K is like the 400m dash of road races - right on the cusp between sprinting and pacing yourself. I decided to go in with the plan to hit each mile in under 9 minutes.

And I almost did it!

• Mile 1 - 8:23
• Mile 2 - 8:24
• Mile 3 - 8:33
• Mile 4 - 8:57
• Mile 5 - 8:52
• Mile 6 - 9:05
• Mile 6.2 - 1:47
• Overall Time - 54:01; pace - 8:42

Although I didn't exactly reach my goal, I am very pleased with these results! And with an average pace of 8:42 per mile, it's almost as if I did better than expected.

As you can see, I probably went out a little too fast. Negative splits are so, so hard for me. It just feels so much better to run fast when you're not tired!

All in all it was a great race. There was a good turn out, the course wasn't too hilly (although there was a long out-and-back stretch on a highway that was kind of boring), and the weather ended up being quite nice! There were lots of volunteers and plenty of fruit & bagels afterwards.

And no matter what my official time ends up being, I set a PR! (you know, since I don't have a previous best to compare to. )