miles with style

This last Saturday, I FINALLY PR’ed a race, and I had not PR’ed a race since I was 16 years old (your time running a new distance you had not ever run does not count).

The race I ran was the Heart of the Summit 10k in Lee’s Summit, MO. This race is really small, but a lot of fun. I love the small town vibe it holds, and the simplicity of it. Last year I was the 2nd place female finisher (to my dear friend Stacy!), so this year I was in it to win it! Last year was also my first 10k experience, completed in 44:39.

Last years first and second place finishers!

I knew that I wanted to push myself as hard as I could, and that I would be using this as a speed workout for my NYC training. My goal was to just go out there and run it as hard as I could, and PR the thing.

My alarm went off WAY too early on Saturday morning. I was at a black tie event the night before, and stayed a bit longer than I had intended. Once I got to the start of the race, my running buddies and I ran a quick 4 miles to get in some miles. Following our warm up we stretched, and lined up!

Sparkling it up at Treads ‘n Threads

As soon as I lined up at the start, I measured up my competition. And I felt pretty good about it. In fact, it looked like my girlfriends would be my strongest competition!

The race began, and I took the lead. I tried not to go out too fast, but judging my pace was really hard since I was in the lead! I pushed it hard the first 5k, then hit the turnaround point (did I mention this was a two loop 10k with 3 out and back portions????). Around mile 4 I started thinking, “ok, this is getting kind of hard, but somehow I am still leading the thing. Where are all the fast men?!”.

Around mile 5, I got passed by a guy running in board shorts holding a liter sized water bottle (two faux pas if you ask me!). I tried my hardest to hang on, but he just kept creeping past me. I ended up finishing the race in 2nd place overall, 1st place among the females. Although I was sad and let down I didn’t win the entire thing, I was still very excited I won the women’s….and PR’ed!!!!!

Splits: 6:39, 6:48, 6:52, 6:59, 6:55, 7:01 (I hate it when my last mile is my slowest mile!)

My finish time was a 42:49 (6:5oish pace), almost 2 minutes faster than the year before. And to me, that was something worth celebrating.

The 1st place – 4th place female finishers. My friends are so fast!

Way to go, Ramsey!!!!!

We made a podium!

Gettin all fancy with my iphone!

Thanks for all of the kind words following the race, and the encouragement leading up to it!!!

xo,

Ali

Tags: 10k, Balanced Life, Love to Run, Marathon Training, races, Running Buddies