Sunday, April 27, 2014, instead of running the Cheshire Half marathon for my third year in a row I ran the Simsbury River Run which is a 10K run because I wanted to get a good 10K time to submit to Disney by June 1 for future race corral placement.  When I registered for the race I told Kim about it.  So she signed up and we met at the race.  It was a chilly morning but it was perfect for running.

The race started at noon which was nice because I didn’t have to get up so early for it; but it’s harder running later because of fueling requirements.  But it all worked out.  Kim and I sat in her car for a little bit before the race and talked strategy to help me get a PR.  I wanted to be under 1:15 at least.  A finish time of 1:10 would make me happy.  Her PR for a 10K was 1:02.  So I had that number in the back of my head also.  I also had my instructions from Jeff Galloway on what I should run based on the temperature and the required pace and intervals for that temperature.  Needless to say I had a lot of numbers going around in my head prior to the start and I only use my iPhone with Endomondo to keep track of my mileage and miles per minute.  This is where Kim was reminding me that I need to get a Garmin so I will have more information at my fingertips.  I knew that and had been thinking of it after my mom gave me money for my birthday.

So we hopped out of the car, used the porta potties one last time before the race, and lined up in our small corral!  It wasn’t a very big race, which was ok.  I was feeling antsy because my legs were feeling a little tired (I don’t know why) and my heart wasn’t really in this race.  I am focusing more on the marathon I am doing next Sunday.  But I knew I wanted to get a great time on this race but wasn’t sure I had it in my to do that.

When the airhorn went off we took off.  I ran the entire first mile at a pace of 8:50.  When I heard my phone announce my mile pace I was shocked.  I felt like I was running fast, but I didn’t realize I was going that fast.  But I figured if I had 1 mile under my belt at a fast pace that would help me get a PR for the rest of the 5 miles I had to do.  I started doing my 40/20 intervals per Jeff, but changed it to 30/30.  I kept that up for miles 2-3, then changed to 1:00/0:30 for mile 4.  At mile 5 I wanted to rest my legs a little so I changed to 30/30 and pushed on my run portions of the interval.  I was feeling a little intimidated at mile 5 because I knew it was only 1.2 miles to the finish but I was unfamiliar with the course and I wanted to gun it at the end but I didn’t want to do it too soon.

Finally I saw where we were going to approach the finish line and I switched it into high gear and ran as hard as I could to the finish.  It felt like I was going in slow motion and my legs didn’t want to move; but I didn’t give up.  I pushed harder.  I looked up and Kim was yelling at me “YOU GOT A PR!!!!” and she gave me a big hug!  That was so awesome!   She had just finished a minute before me and said she turned around after finishing and saw that I was making my way to the finish. Thanks for being there for me Kim! My final time was 1:05. I am shocked considering lately my 5K time range from 33-38 minutes. But those are usually shake off runs after my long training runs.

See the guy behind me?  I passed him a few times and he passed me, but I really wanted to beat him so I passed him one last time to make my break for the finish!  I LOVE when I can run past a guy in a race and beat him!  I will definitely consider this race course for future races if I need to get a good 10K finish time for Disney races.  The course wasn’t too hilly, I got a PR there and it’s not an overcrowded race.  It was an hour away from my house; but I didn’t mind the drive.  I got to enjoy my Be Our Guest Podcasts on the way there and back and got a few ideas for our upcoming vacation!

Thanks for joining me Kim and for taking my finish line picture!  It was Fun!