Course map: http://www.usatf.org/routes/view.asp?rID=189510
Woke up this morning w/ the first good night's sleep I've had in a week. Ran about 1.5 miles at a slow jog to warmup. Temp at the start was near 20 degrees after an overnight low in the teens. This was actually a benefit because it froze the mud that developed on the course after a few inches of snow in the Boise Foothills began to melt yesterday. It also froze the small stream that ran through the out and back course at roughly miles 1.8 and 4.2.
I neglected to charge my Garmin so I had no way of tracking my pace. As a result, I decided to just let it loose and run as strong as I could from the start. I didn't hold back much at all- knowing that I couldn't possible run that hard through the steepest part of the course around mile 2. Sure enough, by the time I hit the steepest portion I was spent and was forced to walk for about two minutes to catch my breath. Nevertheless, I was not passed by anyone nor did I pass anyone the remainder of the race. In fact, there was so much distance between the racer immediately in front of me and immediately behind me that I believe I was prevented from running the 6 seconds faster that I needed to beat my previous PR (established last year in my first and only other 10k on a pancake flat course). When I rounded the last corner to the straightaway leading to the finish line the digital time readout revealed a time of 48 mins even. I tried to pick up the pace but there was just too much space to cover and/or I am just too slow. All that aside, I'm extremely pleased w/ my effort. After running this course in training I was aiming for a 8:30 pace and ended up w/ 7:46 and just 5 seconds off my PR on a dirt and gravel trail course that averages around a 4.5 grade. Throw in little bit of ice, snow, frozen mud and frozen creek to jump over and I should not have even flirted w/ a PR.
This race was only the appeitizer. Now its on to the main course- the Robie Creek 1/2 Marathon in 5 weeks- which offers a much greater endurance challenge.
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