Finally a 10k that I didn't suck ass in...

So me and the 10k have never gotten along.

The first 10k I ran was the Rattlesnake Master, back in Urbana IL in 2003. I don't even really remember my time, but I think it was something like 1:06:something. I also know that I finished second to last.

The second 10k I ran was the Hope Run here in Ames back in June. I finished that in 1:07:something. I think I was pretty close to second to last in that one.

I would like to note that I have run ten milers to half-marathons at faster paces than these two races.

I hate the 10k distance. I start too fast, kill myself, and then have three more miles to run. So I avoid it like the plague.

But I decided it was time to redeem myself. This weekend is simply fabulous fall weather, so I figured perfect conditions to PR in. Plus, the bar wasn't too high for a PR. And for the first year I have lived in Ames, I actually have not been injured for the Run for the Roses, one of the bigger races of the year here.

So I woke up this morning and it was 27 degrees out. Brrr. I bundled up but I knew it was going to get warmer so I decided to race in pants, but with a long sleeve wicking shirt (my GRR shirt in fact!)

My goal was to negative split this race. But... in the first half, I was keeping pace with this one girl and there weren't a ton of people behind us (there is also a 5k, so the slower folks do that race), so I decided to stick with her at our "slightly faster than I would have run otherwise" pace.

But then I had two Ben Folds Five songs come on that made me run faster (BFF is great running music!) so I dropped her on a hill (on a hill! for real! I don't drop people on hills!). After the turnaround she caught up with me again and we ran together until like a mile and a half from the end.

At this point she started picking it up, and the hills, especially this one long one, were making me regret spending two hours on my trainer with Chrissy the day before. Right about this point, my ipod gave me about 15 slow songs in a row, so I kept having to slip through them which is distracting.

Finally I found a good loud Cure song that had a chorus that went something like "I want this to be the end." I found that quite fitting. She was always in my sight, but I was never able to catch her again. About a half mile from the end, I had two They Might Be Giants songs come on (also great running music!) and I tried to pick it up a bit and I was aided by a big downhill before a sharp uphill to the finish.

It was a perfect running weather day and I managed to come in at 1:01:15, so that's knocking an insane 5 minutes off my previous 10k time. w00t! Yay for fall races!