BAA 10K Recap

SURPRISE! I ran the BAA 10K, my first 10K race, despite running 3 half marathons. I wasn't planning on running the BAA 10K, as I didn't sign up in time. Note to self, sign up for races don't think they will magically stay open forever! Friday, I went out for a horribly long and hot 8 mile run at 3pm... STUPID. I was dead afterwards, heat killed me. Ella had invited me to attend a clinic held by BAA about the upcoming race with Bill Rogers as a guest speaker. Ella is a friend of a friend who completed the Boston Marathon this past April, 3 minutes before the bombs went off. Our friends told us we should get in touch since we have both raised money for charities to run in races and both love to run. She was so sweet to reach out to me and offer to be her guest at this clinic. I really enjoyed the clinic and it was great to hear experts talk on the stuff I love. After the clinic, we went out to dinner and chatted some more. When we were leaving we ran into some of the guys who led the conference. They wished us luck, and I explained how I wasn't running because I didn't sign up in time. They told me that there would be extra race bibs on the morning of, just get there early. Ok I would take their word and see if I could race!

The not so great 8 mile run Friday!

Clinic

Skip to Sunday AM! 5AM, no alarm went off (stupid alarm decided not to work this time around) but I woke up right away, MAGIC. By 6am I was out the door. I headed over to the Commons and it was super empty, which brought back flash backs to NYC Half when I was at the race super duper early. I was lucky enough to get a bib for the race! YAY! At this time I picked up the T-shirt and decided to run home and drop it off instead of checking a bag. At home Teresa, took my traditional stand in front of the fridge with bib number photo!

Traditional stand in front of the fridge photo!

I guess I am racing!

I went back to the commons and met up with my friends Biz, Emily and Forge who were running the 10K. It was the farthest distance for all of them, I was so excited to have been able to share race day with them! 

Before the race. Pre-sweat!

Before the race started, I headed over to see Ella and wish her luck. ELLA IS FAST! HOLY MOLY! I also ran into Susan H. Susan runs charity teams a great program for charity runners, Ella trained through them and knows Susan... SMALL WORLD. Get's even smaller, my dad was Susan son's Max advisor. She said that if my dad could help get Max into NYU she would train him to run a marathon. Well, Max is at Harvard and I will hopefully be running a marathon soon! Also shout out to Susan who came in third in her age division!

Biz, Emily and I headed to the start and met up with Biz's coworker Michael. We were in the last heat, Forge was faster then us. We were already sweating before the race even started. Before we knew it, we were off!

BIZ READY TO RUN HER FIRST 10K!

I started out slow, because my only goal was to finish this race. Not to be fast, especially after the torturous 8 miles Friday. We all went our own ways. So despite hanging out before and after the race, during the race we ran alone (except for Biz and Emily who stuck together for a little while). All I can say is the course was amazing! This was my hometown I was racing in. I LOVED EVERY MOMENT OF IT! The heat was horrible but running through my home town, my turf with my running community made the whole experience amazing.

1st mile was on pace that I was hoping for on average 11:28 min/mile. While running along Comm Ave, I loved turning onto my favorite side road. I was lucky enough to have my Nathan water bottle so I didn't have to stop at any of the water stops! BONUS! Because it was an in/out course it was great to see all the runners coming back. I kept an eye out for all my friends running back which really distracted me from the heat. Before I knew it we were at the 5K marker. At the clinic they told us that the second part of the race is usually faster then the first part, and I still had tons of energy in me! I made the loop and started to head back. When we reached Kenmore thats when I could feel the heat getting to me. Also my music was repeating over and over again and I was sick of the songs. But nothing was going to slow me down! I was having major time negative splits! YIPEEEEEE! I knew I was going to book it to the finish line and I did. What I love on comm ave is the alphabetical street names, Hynes, Glouster all the way to Arlington. I knew I needed to get to Arlington. I did! I turned the corner and booked it to the finish. My stretch goal was sub 1:10, and I am proud to have gotten that, especially with the heat and the long run on Friday. Luckily I had never raced a 10K so anything was a PR :)

On the course.. What's up!

Boston I love you!

I got my medal and met up with all my friends. We watched the awards and took some photos together. We decided to head to brunch. It was great to walk, but honestly I could have run some more. So maybe I had energy left in my tank. Reality is I train for half marathons, and I have never done a 10K before. I really enjoyed the distance because it was longer then a 5K but not as long as a half. DUH! My friends were talking about how exhausted and dead their bodies felt after the race. I admit the heat had gotten to me and the whole 4 hours of sleep was a little exhausting, but I really wasn't too sore. 10K isn't a long distance for me. It also helped that I took some parts slower. All in all I could have gone for another run. I'm not kidding! After brunch I walked back home, which was pretty long! Took a shower and was off to work.

Too bad I didn't have my shirt.

All the finishers!

 Lessons learned today
1. START SLOW! negative slips major time!
2. Trust your training, whatever that might be. It is different for everyone and that is ok! The truth is, I am a run/walker. I run 2 min walk for 30-50 seconds. In the past I have tried running straight. I have ended up injured and almost needing surgery many times. I have also ended up hating running and not going far or being speedy. Run/walking works for me and makes me go faster then when I would run straight through. Also no injuries so far (knock on wood). It was hard at brunch to hear some of my friends talking about people walking and how that was giving up. I have never run faster, farther and am injury free. So I will stick with it! And I enjoy running more when I do it that way. AND I AM A RUNNER (even if I am not the fastest person out there), nothing can change that.
3. Racing with friends is fun! Even if you don't actually run with them during the race hanging out with them before and after to discuss the race and just chat is tons of fun! We are hopefully going to sign up for a couple more races this summer!
4. 10K distance is awesome! AND NOT HARD AT ALL, well especially after running 3 half marathons in 4 months!

Official time: 6.2 Miles-  1:09:34
Splits (Yes! I used my timer on my phone at most of the stops)
Mile 1- 11:28 min/mile
Mile 2- 11:40 min/mile
Mile 3 and 4: 22:59 minutes (5K- 36 min)- NEGATIVE SPLITS
Mile 5- 11:01 min/mile --- NEGATIVE SPLITS
Mile 6-  10:37 min/mile (12:28 min for 6.2 miles) NEGATIVE SPLITS