A new bar for the 10k

by David H. on May 6, 2012 · 8 comments

The streets of Richmond were kind to me again today as I shattered my 10k PR by more than 2 minutes.

With nearly perfect racing conditions — about 60 degrees and a light mist — I went out there with very little strategy other than to break my PR. After briefly analyzing my 10k times earlier this week, and thinking back to when I’ve race this distance, I realized I have never had an ideal 10k.

When I hit the halfway point in 23:05.78, and knew that putting a smack-down on my PR was reality, I stepped it up even more. I ran the second 5k in 22:43.24. Final chip time: 45:49.02. I was 90th out of 879 finishers and 12th out of 52 in my age group.

To keep this short and to the point, I felt great out there. I started strong both physically and mentally, and I kept that going throughout.

After this race I’m even more excited about going to Cleveland and going for another PR in the half. If things feel as good then as they did today, I know I’ll be able to do that.

* * *

I wanted to give a big shout-out to my sister, Heather, for running today’s race as well in 1:02, beating her Monument Avenue 10k several weeks ago by 7 minutes.

This was just her 3rd race ever.

After she enjoyed Monument Avenue so much, she signed up for this race, as well as the Richmond Half Marathon.

I’m looking forward to watching her progress throughout the year and making race weekend in November a family affair. Maybe someone in my family will want to run the 8k that today …

Be Sociable, Share!