When we got back, we had to make some last minute errands and by the time we finished and ate dinner, it was already 11:30. We fell asleep almost immediately.
I woke up to the alarm at 6:15 a little tired, but ready to run. OK, maybe not excited to be running, but whatever, I was up. We ate some breakfast and got everything we needed together. I was concerned about my right knee and left IT band a little bit as both were a little sore.
We got to the race and had to park about 1/4 mile from the start. The jog to packet pickup was disheartening to say the least. My knee was hurting and I was exhausted from the previous night's run. I was sweating while standing in line and was beginning to really question why I had decided to race 10 kilometers as I should have been satisfied with the "race" from the previous day.
There was a 5K that was also going on, so we tried to position ourselves away from these runners to not get caught up too early on. Soon enough, the gun went off. It was not long before I realized that today was not a good day for me to race. Not even a mile into it, Matt started to move ahead. We passed mile 1 just over 6 minutes, I want to say 6:03, something like that. Very unimpressive considering that I was already dying. Had I been feeling good, I still would have been moving slow. This was going to be one long 10K
Of course, Matt seemed unfazed by the pace. He was still talking regularly, joking around, and pretty much cruising. Just after the first mile, he was out of talking distance so I had to yell for him to hear me. I was pretty beat and was really feeling the effects of the heat and the prior day’s run. My legs were just real heavy and I couldn’t get a whole lot out of them.
Around 2 ½ miles, we split with the 5K runners. While it was encouraging to see that I had a decent position, I no longer had the pull from a large group of runners. I was by myself with Matt just a bit ahead of me. A guy wearing gym shorts and headphones passed me! Now that was embarrassing.
Around 4 miles, we passed a sprinkler and some water stops, which was encouraging, but all I could think about was getting the damn thing over with. It was hot and a little sprinkle didn’t do much for me. Plus, I had already screwed up the pace. For an endurance runner, you would think that I would be a bit better at controlling pace. Maybe it was just my ego that needed to be controlled.
A little while later, there was a turnaround where we passed other runners. I was seriously considering giving Matt the finger (very appropriate I know, something is probably wrong with me), but there were other runners around him and I didn’t want them to get the wrong idea.
We reached a slight uphill, which was followed by a ½ mile straightaway that led towards the final turn and eventual finish line. I made a strong push to catch the damn guy in the headphones, but couldn’t manage it. I ended up sprinting into the finish to record a time of 39:00. Pretty disappointing, but I guess I could only be so upset given the circumstances. Matt finished over a minute and a half ahead of me. I guess I’ll just have to catch him another time. . .
