My First 10K Experience

Well, of course I finished!  And I'm pretty happy with my time.  :)

A couple of people have already asked me, so I thought I'd better post an update fast.

Did I enjoy it?  For the most part, yes.  Did I reach my goal?  Pretty darn close.

Going in, I wanted to run 10 minutes per mile.  I finished with 10 minutes and 7 seconds per mile.  Chip time of 63 minutes and change.  Not too shabby for me.

I have to say, the race experience is completely different from training.  It wasn't the downtown Houston streets that got to me.  Nope, the streets downtown are honestly no worse than the sidewalks in my neighborhood: uneven, unlevel, and somewhat littered.  But, they were a LOT more crowded than suburban sidewalks, even during the morning "get the kids to school" rush.  Even more crowded than Memorial Park at peak hours.  Even worse than the Warrior Dash I was in last fall.

There were 13,000 people all leaving from the same Start, racing toward the same Finish.  And not everyone played by the rules.  Slower runners (and walkers) did not keep to the right.  People passed on both sides.  Runners jostled each other as they fiddled with the settings on their iPods.  I can't count the number of times someone stopped running and started walking right in front of me.  It was mayhem, people, just mayhem!

Okay, that's a little dramatic.  But I learned a lesson - courtesy is not common, and it goes straight out the window when the starting gun sounds. 

So, what else did I learn?
- There are hills in Houston and I need to train for them. 
- Right about the time you hit your personal wall is when some guy behind you will start a conversation on his iPhone ("It's okay, I can talk, I'm just running a 10K."). 
- There is a vast array of sounds that come out of the runners, especially after mile 4.  Some are funny.  Some are not. 
- Go with the downhill; you earned it on the uphill. 
- Always wait until the last table at the water stations.

Coming up this week: Strength training with Week 4 of Mesocycle 2 in Cathe Friedrich's STS, 17+ miles of running, and 2 days of high intensity interval training.  I'll fill you in on my thoughts about the importance of strength training for runners after leg day on Wednesday.

Until next time.
Start slow, finish strong.
http://pages.teamintraining.org/txg/rnr11/mdavisou4m