For an early morning 10k a nice brisk thorough warmup is usually in order. After running the 5k the night before and knowing I had 23.1 miles ahead in the next 6 hours I tried to keep it simple and relatively easy. My legs felt fine, not amazing, but fine. My warm up went well and I knew I would not know anything until we took off from the start line.
My goal this morning again was pretty simple. I wanted to finish the 10k in about 45 minutes. If I kept it below 45 minutes I would be ahead on the 3:10 goal for all 5 races. I bought myself 2 minutes on Friday night so I already had a little time to play with. I knew as we got deeper into the weekend buying time would get harder and harder to do, so I knew it had to be early and not late in the races if I was to buy more time.
As we took off the legs felt fine. It already did not feel like a normal 10k because I just did not have the extra bounce in the step but I felt fresh enough on this morning to make a run at it. The course itself was familiar to me. It is almost the final 6 miles of the half marathon course that I did a couple of years ago. It is mostly residential with a scenic look or two along the way.
I was pleasantly surprised with the number of cheering spectators along the way, that is not what I was expecting. It was great to have the support on the course. Again there is nothing that resembles a hill on the course, which made me happy. I met a runner before the start who said he lives in Atlanta and he does not like hills. I told him he needs to move! Atlanta is one big hill! That is one reason I was not surprised with my fast race times even when I was trying to run conservative, no hills helps with that!
The first mile went well but shock of all shocks, I went out too fast! Not way too fast, but I did make an effort to slow down the pace the next few miles. I clicked away mile #1 at a 6:58 pace. My next three miles were just about perfect. First the pace is just what I wanted and also the number of runners on the course was great as well. It thinned out nice but it was also not running by yourself. The next few miles were 7:11, 7:10, 7:05 and 7:00.
I had decided I would get to mile 5 and see how I felt. If I was struggling I would just cruise in to the finish. The good news is that I already knew I was ahead of pace so I was not worried about my time. Under 45 minutes looked like a done deal. I also felt solid with 1.2 miles to go. I decided to finish strong and pick up the pace, not hammer it but just pick it up.
I really enjoy the finish on the course. It is flat and straight until you make a right hand turn to the finish towards the ocean. You can see it getting closer from a distance and again the crowd support was great. I made my turn to the finish and collected my total time of 42:50 buying myself 2 more minutes. My finishing miles were 6:38 and 50 seconds for the last .2 (6:31 pace).
I was more than happy. The question now is, “how do I feel?” I have 45 minutes until I run the half marathon. I felt like I gave a pretty hard effort and my legs agreed. I also did not dress wisely. It was cool that morning so I dressed in long sleeves, hat and gloves. It was way too much and that also took a good bit out of me. Overall I was pleased with how I felt but I was not sure how my body would respond to 45 minutes off.
My goal was to hydrate, take in some calories, change clothes and try to stay loose. Needless to say they would be no warm up before the half marathon for yours truly.
Two races down and three to go. I bought myself 4 minutes of cushion and I was ahead of pace. I felt good and was ready for more.
The lesson of the race so far is that annoying word…patience. I really enjoy running the 5k and 10k because it is usually an all out effort and very little race management or thinking involved. How do you exercise patience when you have no desire to? I knew I was ahead of pace but it was not so much where I thought it was a patience thing. It was a feel thing. I felt good and ran the pace I felt I could hold on to. I could have gone faster in that 10k and there were moments where my competitive nature could have come out and almost did.
Not being a real big fan of the whole practicing patience thing I was really pleased. A 5k and a 10k are not great exercises for me to run in practicing patience but I felt like I have really passed the test so far. To this point I have done a fine job running by feel and not by the clock. However I have a half marathon to come so there is no need to get too excited. I have plenty of time left to make poor decisions! 
Critz Half marathon to come…9.3 miles done 16.9 to go and total time (1:01:50)
Happy running….
