Windmill 10K

On Sunday morning, I ran another DSE race in San Francisco.  This was a 10K race that went up and back down Golden Gate Park, starting and finishing at the windmills near the Great Highway.  I'd trained quite well for the past few weeks and tried my best to do quality workouts while on blizzard-cation in New Jersey  :> In addition, my coach had planned some tuning-workouts last week that were hard in a very good way.

I ran the race in 46:36 (7:29 pace) and was the 5th overall woman!! This is a personal best for me, and it represents a breakthrough in my race pace since the Fall.  Soooo, what does a breakthrough race feel like?

Well, I did a good warm up and lined up near the front.  It was a clear, cool, and crisp morning for a race. I worked hard but not too hard in the first mile.  I checked my heartrate and trusted my coach that Zone 4 was okay for racing, and that I could hang on for 40+ minutes in Zone 4. I focused on people in front of me and closing the gap. I also paid attention to the terrain---if it was flatter, I pushed myself, if it was the end of an uphill, I'd work my arms, and if it was a downhill, I'd let myself cruise.  I reminded myself it was only 6 miles and celebrated getting to the turnaround at 3.1 miles :) I also reminded myself that it was supposed to hurt and to go that "hurty" place :O

With less than a mile left, I just told myself to bring it in and keep moving.  I was pretty out of it for the last 1/2 mile and really could only concentrate on one stride at a time.  There's something about driving down to the finish line in which your vision ONLY sees the finish line. Woh, I think I might be addicted to 10Ks!