Pikes Peek 10K

Note to self: When your fastest mile time (EVER) is a 7:21, don't take out a 10K in a 7:30.  It's just not smart!  

And that was the story of the Pikes Peek 10K on April 26th (I know, I'm a little behind on the blog posting...).  It was a little too unseasonably warm (75 degrees at the start!) for April, and I think that took a bit of a toll on my run.  Just the week before, we had a freeze warning, and I just haven't had the acclimation period needed to get used to running in 75 degree weather.  But hey, that's the risk of running in April/May in Maryland, right?

I took the race out WAY too fast.  I was shocked when my watch said 7:31 for the first mile, and I thought to myself - "Uh, oh..."  And "Uh, oh..." was about right.  My second mile was a 7:45, which is still a little too fast for me right now for a 10K, and I couldn't hold onto that pace.  It was a fly-and-die folks!!  Let's do the math ... the first mile was a 7:30, the second mile was a 7:45 - that's a 7:37 average for the first 2 miles.  My final 10K average was 8:16.   It was a beautiful fly-and-die run.  Not my best fly-and-die, but one well worth noting :)

And actually, it was a PR for me - 51:17.  Can't be unhappy with that!  And I had fun, and after being a bit lazy for a week or so, I got some confidence for the Frederick Marathon that I would be running the next week.

Another note to self ... "Net downhill" can be a little deceiving.  If we run uphill 100 feet, and downhill 101 feet, we're still "net downhill," right?  I'm not exactly sure how "net downhill" Pikes Peek is, but I didn't think that hill at Congressional Plaza was a cupcake.  Or the hill at Montrose Road for that matter...  

Maybe the first two miles were extra downhill, which might explain why I felt the need to be speed racer during those miles! 

All in all - good race, and I had a lot of fun! :)  

An amusing fact .... I ran from Shady Grove to White Flint faster than I can drive it most days, haha.  Now that's funny!