RaceReport - Wheaton Run for the Animals 10K 2007

Wheaton Run for the Animals 10K - June 2, 2007 7:30am

Hi everyone!
I hope everyone who raced this weekend had fun.

I ran the Wheaton Run for the Animals 10K this weekend and most of my team was there (Dick Pond Racing Team).

The day started out a little weird as I overslept a bit and kind of had to rush out of the house. I couldn't do my warm up at home and when I got to the race I had to park a few blocks away which was annoying but no biggie. During my warm up I could still feel the tightness in my back from Monday's race, I felt sluggish and the humidity felt really high to me. Good thing Wheaton has great big trees and most of the race would be shaded. I will admit I was worried about my back. Last time I did something to my back I was out for 8 weeks. My goal was to stay under 40 minutes, and with a good race I really wanted to try and average 6:20ish per mile.

I lined up with my teammates and off we went. Oops, right off the bat I started out too fast and I hit a 6:01 first mile. I had been shooting for 6:15 or so. I was with 8 of my teammates and I figured I would just do the best I could to keep with them. My back was talking to me everyone once in a while and I did my best to relax and run with good form. During the next few miles 4 of my teammates broke away and the rest fell behind me so I was alone for most of the 2nd half of the race. I kept my teammates in my sights and tried not to fall too far back. Although I hit my split watch at each mile I don't look at my watch so I went on feel and I felt like I was slowing but not falling off per say. In the last mile some guy decided to play cat and mouse with me, sprinting ahead of me, then falling behind me, then sprinting ahead of me etc. This always makes me laugh but it at least gave me a target to go for during that last mile. I finished solid with a fifth place overall and first in my age group (39:59). My team grabbed the first seven spots overall.

Using my Fox Trot 10 mile time which was an average of 6:31 I really thought I could average closer to 6:20 for a 10K which would have given me a 39:20 but messing up a bit in the first mile, the concern I was having with my back, not being as focused as I was at the Fox Trot, and still feeling tired from monday's race had its effect. I still managed to barely stay under 40 minutes so goal was accomplished on a day that I didn't really feel "on", so it was a good day on the whole. :-)

I took Sunday off for my back and biked instead. I did a lot of heating pad and then icing and that has made a big difference today (Monday). I was going to run twice today but I decided that giving my back another 12 hours and just running this evening would be the best. I don't race again until July 21st.

Splits
1 - 6:01
2- 6:24
3 - missed, don't think it was marked
4 - 12.57 (ave of 6:28 for mile 3 and 4)
5 - 6:40 (in Northside park, some mud, some crushed gravel)
6 - not marked
6.2 - 7:55 (ave of 6:35 for 1.2 miles)
total 39:59

The trail run you guys all did seemed like a lot more fun! The pictures told the whole story.

Peace,
Janeth