Pike's Peak 10K

This is my first blog post using the tag running!

Anyways, after many attempts at running races, not only did I register this time...but I actually made it to the event and raced! First time in 3 years. I am running now.

On the drive to the race I thought...this is pretty cool...I really have no expectations of myself. I am nervous...but not because I hope to do well but because I did not want it to hurt. I made it to Rockville about 7:00am in time for packet pick-up and to get situated. I was cold. It was in the upper 50's and raining. Awesome. I had overdone it a bit by riding 62 miles on Saturday morning and was unsure how running would feel...but usually riding the day before running is good for me and helps get my hip warmed up.

As the start time (8:00am) approached I hung out where my wave (wave?! are we swimming?) was positioned. There were A LOT of people. It was go time. Not a fast start with so many people. I tried to bust on through the crowd. I got out of the jumble and was off. My legs felt cold...but quickly I warmed up. The 1st mile (8:00) marker came up pretty quickly. My goal was under 50 minutes, so I was on track. I was unsure of how to pace myself so held a bit back. At about mile 3 I was starting to feel good so picked it up a bit...started hitting the miles at 7:15 to 7:30. I really feel I am getting more used to forefoot striking. Most of my runs I alternate between forefoot and midfoot running, while I seem to be leaning towards forefoot now. This is good...it seems a lot less pressure on my hip. Mile 5 came up (1 mile to go). I picked it up all the way to the finish. Hooray my 1st ever 10k.

Time: 47:16 (7:37/mile) 126/1317

Results

After the race Matias and I headed back to Reston and went out for a 50 mile easy/stretch out ride. In the end my legs were done and I barely made the last 10 miles home.

On top of all the training, work has been ridiculous...I am spent.