Wrigley Start Early 10k (4-20-08)

My goal for this race was to PR (48:50). This was just my second 10k, and the other 10k was in June of 2006. I had only been running for 3 months at the time, so I knew PRing shouldn't be too challenging. Realistically, I thought I could run this race at about a 7:00 min pace and finish around 43:00. 

However, due to my lack of experience in the 10k, I was feeling a high level of anxiety leading up to the race.  I tried to just stay positive and expect a good outcome, but there were still a lot of nerves. I was thinking about how painful 5ks are, and I hated to think of that type of discomfort stretched out over 6.2 miles. 

The start line was less than a 5 minute walk from my condo.  I did a brief warm up, gave the girl a kiss, lined up, and off we went.  I was feeling pretty good, but hit the first mile market waaaay too fast (6:34). I eased off the pace a bit, and fell into a comfortable rhythm. 

I was side-by-side with the 2nd place female. The 1st place female was only about 20 feet ahead of us, so I said, "Just keep her in your sights." She agreed, and we continued on together. After reaching the 3rd mile marker I was ready to step it up, but 2nd place female was starting to fade. I wished her good luck, and started to push. At this point I got caught in "no man's land." The leaders were barely in sight, but I was breaking away from everyone behind me. I didn't mind though, because I was feeling surprisingly well. I really couldn't believe it. Yes, it was tough at times, but this was perhaps one of the only races where I never recalled thinking, "Holy shit, this sucks soooo much!! I can't wait for this to be over!" It just never happened. I was simply feeling too strong to allow any negative thoughts to enter my head.

With a mile to go, I really started to dig. Some of the leaders started coming back into sight, and I began chasing them down and picking them off. I've felt this kind of late-stage drive in my past few races. It's quite possibly my favorite thing about running.  This is my time to show my strength in the sport. I didn't get passed once in the last 2 miles, and in the last mile I think I gained about 10 places. I was kicking like crazy at the end.  There was a great crowd at the finish line, and I got a HUGE cheer from them.  Although there was no one with me to battle it out at the end, this was one of my favorite finishes. 

Mile 1- 6:34
Mile 2- 7:00
Mile 3- 7:01
Mile 4- 6:51
Mile 5- 6:42
Mile 6- 6:14
0.2- 1:09 (5:45 pace)
FINISH- 41:40 (6:43 avg pace)