March 17, 2013

ShamRock n Roll 10K Race Report (SO crazy!)


It was so nice to have pretty much zero pressure going into this race! I had actually forgotten that I'd registered for it until about a week ago, and my only *real* goal was to PR--my PR was 55:05 from April 2011. That's an 8:50 pace, so I figured a PR today was pretty much in the bag, based on my training paces.

I honestly didn't really care what my time was, as long as it was under 55:00, because I trained SO hard for that number in the fall of 2011, and I missed it by 11 seconds. Then I was marathon training all last year, and my pace got pretty slow again. After the Detroit Free Press Marathon, I started training hard to pick up speed again. And it's worked!

I slept pretty well last night, and got up at 5:15. For me, a 10K is one of those distances that is short enough to be over with quickly, but long enough to where you don't have to feel like you're dying the whole time--you have plenty of time to get into a good pace. The 10K distance has always been my favorite. Also, since this was so low-pressure, I didn't worry about eating the right fuel this morning, or getting there super early to get in line for the portapotties from all the water I would have drunk if I'd been running a half-marathon.

Anyway, my side cramp was gone, my headache was gone, and I felt pretty good this morning! I ate bran cereal for breakfast, had a cup of tea, and then headed out at 6:30. I stopped at McDonald's just before I got there to use the bathroom (better than a porta potty). Then I couldn't figure out where the parking was, so I called Ty. She was already there, and she hopped in the car with me to show me where to go--very helpful! She's also picked up my packet for me--saving me a lot of time.

It.was.freezing. I am not kidding when I say it was miserably cold this morning! The temp was 25, which doesn't sound that cold, but the "feels like" temp was 18--even that seemed warmer than it felt! Ty and I went to meet up with some Twitter/blogger friends for a picture before the race.

I thought someone was standing behind me (I'm on the far left) so I am posed awkwardly. Per usual.


The only one in that picture that I'd met in person before today was Ty. I just wish it wasn't so cold, so we could chat for a bit before the race, but after the pic, Ty and I hightailed it to the tent to keep warm.

The race started at 8:00. I was so surprised when I learned that this race had pacers! I've only seen pacers at marathons. Since I wasn't too worried about pace, I wasn't planning to run with a pacer. I got in line midway between the 52:00 pacer and the 55:00 pacer. I figured that would be a good spot to start.


When the race started, I was so glad to be running--my feet were totally numb, and I had my hands curled into fists inside of the palm of my gloves, because it was so cold! For about the first half mile or so, I could see the 52:00 pacer just in front of me, and I was pretty much keeping pace with him--and I felt comfortable at that pace.

About a mile and half in, I started to feel a little uncomfortable--I thought I'd better back my pace down to about 8:30/mi, instead of the 8:20ish pace I thought we were doing. I looked at my Garmin, and saw that the pacer was actually running an 8:00/mi pace for that second mile! No wonder I felt like it was getting harder. Since I was running that pace already, and felt okay, I figured I'd try to keep my overall pace at about 8:15. I passed the 52:00 pacer, and planned to finish just ahead of him.

When I finished the second mile, my watch said 7:48--I got scared when I saw that, because I thought a sub-8 mile would surely make me exhausted before the end of the race. So I deliberately slowed down a little, and tried to stay a little slower than an 8:00 pace. After a while, my average pace read 8:04, and I thought, "Wow, I wonder what my finish time would be for that..." so I started doing the math in my head (that always helps pass the time!)

I figured an 8:00 pace would be a finish time of about 50:00, so I thought, "How cool would it be if my time was sub-51:00!!" So I pushed the pace a little to try and keep my average as close to an 8:00/mi pace as I could.

At around mile 4.5, everything changed. I went around a corner, and I thought I saw a pacer ahead of me. I knew the only pacers I saw at the starting line were 50:00 and 52:00... so I thought, "Holy shit, is that the 50:00 pacer?! DID I ACTUALLY CATCH UP TO THE 50:00 PACER?!" My mind was blown by that realization. He was still maybe a quarter mile ahead of me, so I hadn't caught up just yet, but I started to think that maybe it was possible...

That's when I started passing people. I made it a mission to try and catch up to the pacer. I knew I'd be super disappointed to finish just over 50 minutes--because it would be SO CLOSE to 49:xx. I would have been happy with a 52 or 53 minute finish, but it would be unbearably disheartening to watch the 50:00 pacer cross the finish line right in front of me ;)

He was HARD to catch. I had to run a sub-8:00 pace for the rest of the race, and I was gaining a couple of inches here and there, but the pacer still seemed so far away. The whole sixth mile, I was focused on catching up.

At mile 6.1, I gave it what little energy I had left, and finally caught up to the pacer!! When we could see the finish line, he started encouraging everyone, "Go! Go! Finish strong!" I wanted to thank him as I ran PAST him (I was passing the 50:00 pacer!!), but I had zero energy on reserve at that point. My Garmin pace read 7:55/mi average, so I had a huge smile as I made the last steps to the finish line. I was SO stunned. It honestly never even occurred to me that I could ever run a sub-50 10K!

I checked out my Garmin, and saw that I'd done it:




The bibs actually have a QR code on them that you can scan with your phone to see your results. I wanted to get home as quickly as possible, because Jerry worked all night and needed to go to bed, so I didn't check my results until I got home.



Since I was in a rush to leave the race, I didn't get any pictures. When I got home, I had Noah take a couple of pictures of me. My face is so pale that I look like death in this picture!


Anyway, my performance at today's race FAR exceeded my expectations! I wasn't crazy about the race itself, and don't think I would do it again (the course was really boring), but I'm so happy to have this new PR :) Happy and still just completely shocked!


40 comments:

  1. It was nice to meet you. Too bad it was so cold, we all just retreated to the tent to try t and stay somewhat warm. I thought I saw you up ahead of me at our 55 min pace, but when we could up, saw it was an impostor. Turns out, you were way ahead of us! Great job on the race!

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  2. Congrats on your PR! That's amazing! I'm so excited for you!

    http://shakinforbacon.blogspot.com

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  3. You really should try to be a little more competitive, lol! Congrats to you on an awesome race!

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  4. Congratulations on your race! Awesome!

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  5. Katie, you are such an inspiration to me! Congratulations on your amazing run today :)

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  6. Congratulations! I love these kind of little unexpected exciting moments :) You did fantastic!

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  7. Bravo to you Katie! Maybe the cold helped because your body wasn't working so hard to cool off.

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  8. Congratulations! What a fantastic accomplishment!

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  9. Great job! You seem to aim low when setting race goals, so it's always nice to see you exceed your expectations. Why are you hunched over in the group shot?

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  10. Good job!! That is an awesome PR!! It really was cold! I was in the 2nd wave and in that 10 minute wait my feet became totally frozen.
    Did you think the course was pretty flat? I was pacing 65 mins and after I finished I was thinking that it seemed really flat and I wondered what kind of time I could get if I really ran it!
    It was so strange to finish a race and not feel like collapsing into a heap on the ground!

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  11. Congratulations!!! You are such an inspiration to me, thank you!!

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  12. Congrats on another great race! Love the green skirt!

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  13. new reader here, enjoying your blog. slow runner that I am, care to share some tips on how you got so fast, what kind of intervals do you do. what do you think was the key to getting fast? my goal is to break 2 hr for HM, I'm at 2 05 now. thanks.

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  14. Congrats Katie!! That is awesome. You are my inspiration!

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  15. That is awesome Katie. You worked hard and definitely deserve it.

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  16. Fantastic!

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  17. Congrats!! So amazing!

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  18. Oh wow, awesome job! You KILLED it! First off, you Michigan runners are such tough cookies to run in that cold all winter.

    Way to sprint it and catch that pacer. Your last three miles are insane. Look at your overall and gender place. Crazy good- congrats! :)

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  19. Yay! You go girl! That is amazing!

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  20. Oh my goodness, you're exceptional! Love that you passed yourself so hard. What an inspiration :)

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  21. So happy for you!!! I bet seeing that time felt so awesome when you were done!!

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  22. Awesome work! Way to go!

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  23. Congratulations on your awesome PR!

    Hope to meet you again soon, when its not 17 degrees and we can chat for more then 17 seconds :)

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  24. Way To Go! you really smashed that PR!!! Love to read about your thoughts and strategies as you run, and also love to see how you used those pacers to get below 50 minutes! It reminded me of how you used the FitBit to motivate you to get more activity in! You just find motivation wherever you go and that is part of the reason for your success.

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    1. And I forgot to mention....it took me as 50 minutes to walk 2.4 miles yesterday. And as I was walking, I had seen your 10K results on the right side of your page already, and I thought to myself, "Katie can run 6.1 miles faster than I can walk 2.4 miles. How sad is that?" But I just keep plodding along.

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    2. Michelle B.March 18, 2013

      Yay for you and your 2.4 miles. I'm just trying to find the courage to take the 1st step again (after an injury turned a 3 year hiatus turned into a 50lb weight gain! "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming swimming swimming" - Dory from Finding Nemo.

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  25. That is so awsome Katie! You have such determination, I love it!

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  26. You Rock!! That's super fast!

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  27. Damn, Katie, you are FAST! Congratulations on the shiny new PR. You're so inspiring. Did you ever think you'd be able to run that fast/far even two or three years ago? Way to go!

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  28. Congrats on your PR! I've been following your blog since I saw you on the Today Show, and that's also when I started exercising. My starting weight was very close to your starting weight, and I'm now down 22 pounds and will start week 4 of Couch to 5K tomorrow. More exciting than all of that, though? WE WEAR THE SAME SHOES! LOL! I want to marry my Brooks Adrenaline GTS 13!

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  29. sorry, didn't read the post, just wanted to let you know about a pin I saw...http://pinterest.com/pin/286119382548822314/

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    1. THANK YOU!! I've reported it to Pinterest. I appreciate the heads-up!

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  30. Way to go!! I actually love the shirts they gave you! :)

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  31. Michelle B.March 18, 2013

    WOW! Yay for you - I love reading what you were thinking as you ran the race! Awesome job!

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  32. So awesome!! Congratulations again on an AMAZING run!!! So happy for you!!

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  33. Uh-mazing! I agree with Lori- the cold temps allowed you to run faster and not overheat!

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  34. You have gotten so fast since I started following. I also wish it had not been so cold so we could of talked more. Perhaps at another race. Congrats on the PR.

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