Race Recap: Wicked 10K

I’ve had the last 36 hours or so to ponder “what went wrong in my race yesterday?” The truth is… nothing. Although, I did not PR, or even achieve my “Plan B” goal, I am still OK with the results of my 2^nd Wicked 10K race. I last ran this lovely & spooky course in 2012. My official time that day was 57:03 {a 9:12/mile pace}. I knew I would have a course PR this year, but could I achieve a personal PR? My PR in the 10K distance is from February of this year, at the Game Day 10K {also the race where I had my first ever age group placing!!}. My time that day—49:34, giving an average pace of 7:59/mile.

Leading up to the race, I continued to train in preparation for my first marathon, which is now in less than 3 weeks (eeeekkk!). My weekly training usually consists of an easy run, a speed/intervals day, a tempo run, & a long run—typically no more than 4 runs/week due to work scheduling. However, the last few weeks, in order to achieve my weekly mileage, I have had some 5 runs/week weeks.

The night before the race, I cooked a house favorite for our pre-race meal. To date, this would be my sister’s longest race {she lives with us} & she requested Sriracha Chicken with Garlic Green Beans, which is paired with a white/brown rice combo. Yummy! Just before bed, I decided on a lame outfit—ultimately forgoing a Halloween costume. Yep, procrastination at its finest! Bedtime came right at 11pm, with my morning alarm dinging off 7 hours later.

At 6:30am, my sister & I headed down to the oceanfront to meet up with some of our friends before the race. A bathroom debacle—super long line related, delayed me in arriving at a photo meet-up spot with some of the local mother runners. Sadly, this kept me from meeting up with 2 girls that I had planned to run with, both of whom were shooting for my same time goal. I should add here that both of them CRUSHED their goal. Whoop!! Good job ladies! Since time was getting very close to the gun time, I hurried to the porta-potty line, & then ran over to Corral 1—with probably only a minute to spare.

As I jumped into the corral, I met up with a new client of mine that I would be pacing for the race. Then, off we went. I had initially hoped to PR, which I had convinced myself would be fairly likely if I ran even splits at 7:50-8:00/mile. The first & second miles ticked by pretty quickly.

Mile 1 – 8:01

Mile 2 – 8:01

OK, this just might happen!! And then, about a quarter mile later, hmmm… maybe not. At mile 2.3, I looked at my watch & thought, “nope, no PR today”. This was about the time that we were being attacked by a giant orange ball of fire in the sky, with no shade as we ran down the VA Beach Boardwalk. Dang, I knew I should have worn shades! Just before mile 3, we turned back onto Atlantic, which brought a little bit of shade & an easier pace. At this point, I wasn’t sure if my client was still behind me {his choice—run behind, with me in sight & he’d try to keep up for as long as he could}. I knew if I looked back & did not see him, I’d allow myself to let up a little bit. So, I did not look back until with fourth mile.

Mile 3 – 8:15

Mile 4 – 8:15

Once I saw that I was alone {ended up finding out later that myself & new client guy had been split up in a bottleneck at mile 2}, I decided to begin drafting off of a Mario character for probably a half mile. Where was Luigi?! Anyone who has run down at the beach understands the amount of wind you might encounter—Wicked 10K 2014 didn’t have horrible wind, but definitely some! Just before mile 5, we turned back onto the Boardwalk for some more of that fireball sun. I had decided to continue to run my comfortable 8:10 pace, & then begin pushing at mile 5.75—a half mile before the finish line. Instead, I could see the finish line in sight, about a mile out at this point, & begin to pick up the pace. Soon, the race would be over….

Mile 5 – 8:13

Mile 6 – 7:57

Final 0.23 to the Finish – 7:17

 

Garmin time: 50:23 (8:05/mile)

Official Time: 50:22 (8:07/mile)

Overall: 348^th out of 5385

Gender: 98^th out of 3598

Age Group: 24^th out of 668

In processing my race, I definitely think I ran too conservative. Sure it was an effort performance, but I know I could have pushed harder. Following the race, I walked probably a total of a mile more, then did the family grocery shopping trip, then worked a 12-hour night shift. Today, less than a day & a half later, I did a 10 mile run with my running partner—with more than half of it at marathon pace. Yep, definitely lots of energy left over. Although I did not PR, I am happy with these results!! I had a goal of top 25 in my age group, which I managed to pull off; as well as top 100 of females, which I also managed to achieve. I really can’t complain. Next time though, I really need to push myself sooner than the last mile, & hopefully, I will improve upon my personal best time.

Of course, thanks goes out to ALL of the volunteers, the water stop helpers, the EMS & VA Beach Police Dept, & definitely to J&A Racing!! Also, thanks to all of the other runners & spectators with the FABULOUS costumes on, which gave constant entertainment along the course!! I also have to give tons of props to all of my clients who ran this race—you all ROCK! Whether you met your goal, or came up slightly shy, it doesn’t matter; you still did it & burned more calories than you would have on the couch!! Plus, I know each of you had a blast during this fun Halloween run! Oh & to a certain co-worker who enjoyed this as her first race EVER—woohoo; WELCOME to your new addiction!

Lastly, thanks for reading this & supporting me!

Up Next for The Running Blonde: The Richmond Marathon on November 15^th!!!!