Aquarium Run 10k

After running the Sweetheart Run 10k I really wanted to run another 10k to break 43 minutes. My goal race for the spring has been a 5k we run in honor of one of Jeremy's high school classmates who died in a hiking accident. The race is very near and dear to our hearts and when I'm not pregnant or just coming back from having a baby I plan my spring around running my fastest at that race. I decided to run a 10k at the Aquarium Run a few weeks before the Get Busy Livin 5k and shoot for a sub-43 performance. I kept most my speed workouts geared more toward a 5k and my training has been for the 5k, but I knew all of that would also transfer over to a faster 10k. I just haven't been running long runs with my longest run topping out at 6 miles. The Friday before the race I started looking at past years' results to get an idea of how many people I would be running with. I was shocked to see that my 43:11 from the Sweetheart run would have put my in the top 5 overall (meaning male and female combined) all of the previous years and would leave me running pretty much alone. I'm glad I looked at results and was prepared for that mentally. I made sure to really look at the course map to ensure I knew where I was going. I ran the 10k in 2013 and remembered it was not marked particularly well and there weren't very many people out on the course directing us where to go. I wasn't worried about the way out because we would have half-marathoners running with us and I knew there would be sub-1:30 half-marathoners to run with. It was the return trip I was worried about because the course was not an out and back. Friday night Jeremy and my parents came over for dinner and I was telling them my concerns about getting lost on the course. When I laid Carter down for bed he asked me if we were going to a race in the morning. When I told him we were, he said, "Don't worry mommy, you will be okay. I'll be there and I'll cheer for you." It melted my heart. He is the sweetest!

Elise and Carter ready to spectate the race.

We arrived at the aquarium a little later than we had planned and I needed to use the restroom again so my warm up got cut short. I ran a 0.6 mile warm up rather than my typical mile warm up. It turned out I could've done a full mile because the race started about 5 minutes late. We took off and I was feeling pretty good, cruising along. My plan was to go out around 6:50-6:55 pace for the first half of the race and attempt to negative split. The course is extremely flat with the only downside being it is typically very windy which slows down the times. We lucked out with very mild wind the day of the race. I went through the first mile in 6:45 which was a touch faster than I was hoping for so I decided to dial it down during the second mile and immediately slowed my pace. Apparently I slowed down too much because I went through mile 2 in 6:59. Then I freaked out a little bit that mile 2 was so slow and I was going to have a tough time coming back from it like my 5th mile during the Sweetheart Run. At this point in the race I had caught up to a guy ahead of me and we were running side by side. We had a great pace going and were running along stride for stride. We crossed a bridge to the other side of the river and were running down a street that is also part of the Route 66 Marathon course and I had a flashback to my first marathon. I told myself no matter how much the last 3 miles of the race hurt, it would never compare to the last 3 miles of a marathon. I started to gain my confidence back and knew no matter what I could rock that last 5k. I went through mile 3 in 6:47. I was pleased with where my overall pace was at this point and I was also happy to be half-way done.

The race start of the 10k/half-marathon taken from the aquarium website, you can't see me but I like the picture.

I could see the casino in the distance and knew our turn around was right before we reached the casino. My watch beeped for mile 4 which I had run in 6:51. As I approached the turn around I was hoping to see the pack of runners ahead of me turn around for the 10k, but none of them did. Then as I started to turn off for the 10k, the guy I was running with said, "Have a good race!" and continued on with the half-marathon. I was on the return trip with just 2 miles to go but I couldn't see anyone even in the far distance. I really strained my eyes looking ahead of me and there was no one to be seen. Unless someone passed me from behind it was looking to be a lonely trek those last couple miles when it would have been nice to have someone to chase after. I kept repeating 43 over and over in my head and pushing as hard as I could, knowing I was on pace to break 43 and I wanted to keep with it. I was tired and starting to hurt but I wasn't giving up. I hit mile 5 right before I turned back onto the bridge to head to the aquarium. I had kept mile 5 steady at 6:52. As I was crossing the bridge I was wondering where I would head once I got across the bridge and didn't see anyone at the end of the bridge directing runners which way to go. As I got close to the end of the bridge I could see the 10k runners ahead of me heading back on the road toward the aquarium so I knew that's where I would go. As I turned onto the road back to the aquarium I was having to weave in and out of 5k runners and 1 mile fun run participants who were finishing their races. It was a bit of a jumbled mess and made it hard to kick as much as I would have liked for the last mile, but I still ran my last mile as one of my fastest in 6:46 and ran the last 0.24 miles in 6:15 pace! As I neared the finish line I saw they had a bubble machine at the finish so bubbles were blowing across the finish line which was fun and helped me push just a bit harder. Then I heard my dad cheering for me and when I glanced at the finishing clock, I saw the time was just ticking over to 42:30. I had crushed my goal of breaking 43 minutes and was pumped!

A picture of me finishing that dad took.

I found my dad who was spectating this race with the kids due to a sinus infection and possibly a cold on top of that and Thomas was with him. Thomas had annihilated his time from the St. Patrick's Day 5k less than a month ago, running 21:49. With the 5k starting 20 minutes after the 10k and half marathon, I was excited at the thought that if Thomas ran just under 23 minutes, we could finish at the same time. But he ran quite a bit faster than that! He placed 11th out of 387 overall and 2nd out of 17 in his age group. We got to watch Ty finish in 27:56 which put him 5th out of 17 in his age group and 59th overall. My time of 42:30 put me 7th out of 195 overall, 2nd out of 126 women, and 1st out of 30 in my age group. When I looked at the results, it turned out the person closest in front of me beat me by almost 3 minutes and the person closest behind me ran almost 3 minutes slower than me. I was even farther spaced out than I had imagined during the race! I ran a mile cool down and got such a bad side stitch at one point that I got light headed and had to walk to catch my breath. I thought, that's how you know you ran really hard, you can barely run a cool down! Once I returned I found everyone else inside eating the finisher's food and Ty got in line to pick mine up for me so I could change out of my sweaty clothes. Dad took Carter into the aquarium while I helped Ty load the stroller and Elise up so he could take her home for a nap and get started on our bathroom remodel. Then I went into the aquarium with Thomas to meet dad and we walked around a bit before picking up Thomas' and my awards and then heading home. Although the race is a bit on the smaller side, I have always really enjoyed it. It's a bit surprising to me that it isn't more popular considering the great post-race food (breakfast burritos from a local Mexican restaurant) and free entry into the aquarium after the race.

A picture of Ty finishing that my dad took.

Thomas with the kids after his race.

Carter walking through the aquarium after the race.

I was once again so glad Jeremy got me to push out of my 5k/half marathon comfort zone and try out a 10k. I love the challenge of the 10k. It is such a different beast than my normal races. You have more pacing involved than in a 5k where I basically go out hard, run the middle hard, and finish hard. It's also faster than a half marathon where you can go out slow the first couple miles and have plenty of miles to make up the time. With a 10k being 6 miles you have to pace yourself from starting out too fast and burning up, but you also go long enough that those last couple miles are hard and your legs burn. I'd have to say I'm a bit hooked on the distance right now. I also love that I can train for and run a decent 10k without actually doing any long runs which is great with trying to time runs around the kids' schedules! During my cool down I was already thinking about running the 10k this summer at the summer race series we normally run and I usually run the 5k. My first 3 miles in this race added up to 20:31 and miles 4-6 were 20:29. I was pleased with myself that even though my mile splits were a bit up and down, my overall pacing was pretty even and I ran a negative split which was awesome! I looked back at the Sweetheart run and I had also run my first 3 miles in 20:31 but miles 4-6 were a crap shoot with that super slow 5th mile. I'd like to keep chipping away at my 10k time and really enjoy the chance to run PRs that are now so difficult to hit in the 5k!