Golden Gate Park 10K (PR!)

I ran in compression socks today. I kind of felt like I looked ridiculous (and I am sure that if my sister had seen me this morning she would have said something along the lines of “oh God, Cate, no. Just no.”), but I PRd, so looks really didn’t matter. And my legs felt so springy and fresh!

I’m pretty sure the last 10K I ran prior to this one was in the summer of 2010, and it was not pleasant. 10Ks are probably my least favorite distance to race, but at least today made me feel a little bit better about them. I had a really good feeling about this race as soon as I got out of the car (plus I was wearing the magic socks!) The weather was perfect and I had a really solid week of training (compared to the weeks before).

I jogged an easy mile to warm up (9:30 pace), said goodbye to Mike and Ellie (Mike was pushing her in the stroller – it was her first 10K!) and lined up. Unlike my last couple races, I decided I wanted to wear my Garmin. When I went through the first mile in 7:01, I felt like I was right on track. I missed the 2 mile mark but someone near me said we went through it at 14:08. I hit mile 3 at 21:16 and was feeling great. That was also right at the start of a LONG downhill stretch that lasted until right around mile 4.5.

I knew the last 1.6ish miles were all uphill so I tried to bank some time on the long downhill. I passed a bunch of people and felt amazing. Then reality hit as soon as we turned the corner and started running up. It sucked. My legs felt fine but I felt SO out of breath. I started doing mental math, seeing if I could slow down and still PR. Then I told myself to stop thinking about slowing down and just hang on. One girl passed me, and so did a bunch of guys. I seriously thought the last mile would NEVER end, but we finally rounded a slight bend and saw the finish.

44:30, a PR by 39 seconds (7:09 min/mile)! And I was fifth place woman, which meant I scored a sweet yellow ribbon. Mike and Ellie weren’t far behind in around 46:30.

I am SO happy with this race, and am especially with the fact that the McMillam calculator says I should be able to run a 1:39 half marathon. February 5th, it’s on!