Last year I ran a 5K PR (22:50) a week before the Derby Marathon. I plugged that number into the magical race predictor calculator and it gave me an average predicted marathon time of 3:39:21. Obviously I didn't run that time but it was eye opening to see the potential.
So here I am, two weeks from my goal marathon and the last road race before my marathon this year is a 10K. This year, I looked at the race predictor backwards. I put in a marathon time of 3:50:00 to see what kind of 10K time I needed to run to potentially run that time. It spit out a time of 49:39. My 10K PR was 49:19.
I still have this because I'm a sentimental packrat.
I ran this time 28 years ago. I thought then that it would be a beginning to competitive road racing but then life got in the way and I stopped racing. I went to college, med school, and finished a residency. I got married and had two kids. I've been a Girl Scout leader, dance instructor, and have carted my kids around to dance lessons, skating lessons, cross country meets, track meets, ice hockey games, dance competitions, soccer games, cheer practice, football games and basketball games. I used to glance at this plaque sitting in my basement and think that I would never run that fast again. 49:19 is 7:56 pace. No way I could hold that pace for 6.2 miles ever again...
Until today. I felt like I was capable of holding an 8:00 pace... and if I could do 8:00, why not push it a little and do 7:56? If I could PR I could prove to myself that I was capable of 3:50.
It was not the ideal morning for a race. It was cold - in the 20's - but what bothered me the most was how windy it was. That little voice inside my head was messing with me. It's windy today so it's OK if you don't PR...
I looked around at the start and started thinking though that there was a chance I could win the women's 10K race. Then we were off...
Mile 1 - 7:31. Too fast. Slow down! Why the heck do I always run my first mile too fast?
Mile 2 - 7:38. Better. We get to where the 5K and 10K runners split and I realize there's one woman ahead of me. I want to speed up to catch her but I won't be running my own race if I do. Pace yourself! She'll come back to you.
Mile 3 - 7:56. Just keep this pace. I peeked at my watch at 3.11 miles and saw 23:58. I remembered from the race predictor that the 5K time for a 3:50 marathon was 23:57. Just keep this pace!
Mile 4 - 8:03. Now we're running into the wind and I feel like I'm faltering... but I think I'm slowly gaining on the woman in front of me.
Mile 5 - 8:10. I almost gave up this mile. We were still running into the wind. The little voice was talking to me again. It's Ok. You ran some really good miles. You will finish in second place matter what your time is today. Second place is good enough. Then, three men caught up to me. I stayed with them for at least a quarter mile. It was much easier running in a pack and I saw that we were running an 8:00 pace. We ran through the 5 mile mark together before two of the guys pulled ahead of me and one fell back. Thanks guys. One more mile to go. I can still do this!
Mile 6 - 7:50. My Garmin was not exactly matching up with the mile markers on the course. Miles 1, 2, and 3 were all long on the course. 4 was pretty close, but then 5 and 6 were short compared to when my watch was beeping. In any case, I ran past mile 6 and the girl yelled out 46:00. I knew then that I was going to PR. I wasn't going to catch the woman in front of me (who turned out to be a 13 year old) but I ran my race and had my time.
Official time - 47:57 (7:43 pace)
PR by 1:22
I'll take it!
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