I ran a 10k this morning at the Boulder Reservoir. I finished with a time of 34:23 (fourth place), which I am decently pleased with for two reasons. First, this course was completely flat (rolling hills), unlike the course that I set my PR on (it dropped approx. 400 ft). This course was also almost all dirt and gravel, which for me, seems much harder to run on than asphalt. So, considering these factors, I think that my performance today was better than that a month ago (my last 10k). At the 5k mark my time was 16:20. I know that I could have set a new 5k PR if I were running that distance, but because I had to pace myself I let it go. At the end of the race, a finisher in front of me, which works at Boulder Running Co., told me that my stride was not matching my shoes at all, causing me to be inefficient and lose energy. He thinks that if I get some shoes that cause my step to line up the right way, that I can greaty improve efficiency and reduce time. I won a $50.00 gift card to the store from this race, so I may go talk to him and test out some different shoes. I had to bike to the reservoir which is 8 miles away because I did not have any other mode of transportation. After biking the eight miles back, I played a soccer game, which was pretty hard. In all, I am satisfied with my effort today. My time might not be stellar, but I can see that I am definitely improving as time goes on. | 