Monday, October 10, 2011

Tufts Health Plan 10K For Women

I ran my first 10K on Sunday- it was flat, fast and hot! The exciting thing about new distances is instant PR! The noon start meant a bit of a sleep in. Bryan and I arrived at the Boston Common around 10:45 and it was already milling with runners! Nearly 6,500 women ran and walked this race! I picked up my bib number, and then a really nice long sleeved tech tee from New Balance!

I used the restrooms, we walked around a bit, and found a bit of shade. I took a little spin through the Garden to warm up my legs and then Bryan took off to secure a spot for the high five station. I used the restrooms again and started to make my way to the corrals. Around 11:20am, the race directors had people lining up in their corrals, which seemed a bit on the early side. I understand they wanted to line people up on Charles and walk onto Beacon. Since I got there around 11:45, I weaved my way through looking for the 8minute mile group. Since the corral grouping seemed very informal, I was worried about starting too far back and getting stuck behind slower walkers and runners. However, I managed to line up at the back of the 7mm group, so maybe for the first quarter mile it was a little hectic, but it was fine afterwards.

A 10K goes pretty fast, so I started out and ran an 8:01 mile, pretty good. Kept watching my watch to make sure I wasn't going too fast or two slow. Saw Bryan manning the high five station and got a super great high five. We headed over the Mass Ave Bridge, and as I was coming over onto Memorial Drive, we were able to see the elite runners go by, which was pretty great. The race was pretty boring at this stretch, just heading along Memorial. There isn't much tree coverage and it was getting pretty hot. Mile 4 I felt like I slowed down a bit, only ten second per mile. Heading back over the Mass Ave Bridge into Boston was fun- a good amount of crowd support, and lots more out on Beacon! Bryan was giving lots of high fives, and there were some handsome men in suits and tuxes handing out water as well. The crowds were getting better the closer to the Garden. There were lots of turns at this stretch, which I was worried about, but it was pretty thin at this point. Coming onto Charles was checking my watch and gunning for a sub 50 finish, and kicked up my finish a bit, but it wasn't quite enough.


After crossing the finishing line and giving myself a pat on the back for my new PR and feeling great, Joan Benoit Samuelson was congratulating all the finishers. I was so thrilled, I asked her for a hug, which was super sweaty. Awesome. Grabbed some water and Powerade (can not stomach this! too sweet!), and a banana and did some light stretching. I started to make my way to meet Bryan around mile 5 and ran into one of my childhood best friends! We exchanged contact info, and I hope to get together with her soon!

I made my way down the course, passing by lots of women running and walking towards the finishing line! I kept cheering them on and eventually met up with Bryan.




When thinking about my race goals, they were sub 50 min, which means I would have to run 8:01 or 8:00mm spot on. My second goal was sub 51min, with a under 8:15mm. I didn't have a third goal, fairly certain I would at least come in under 8:30mm.
My official time is 50:28 with 8:08mm. I'm super pleased with this, and feel like if it wasn't so damn hot out, I could have nailed the sub50 goal. But... what's the fun of getting it all on your first time... gives me another reason to race a 10K.

The race itself was really well organized, and they had a very active Facebook page with lots of information and weekly, if not daily posts about the race. I would definitely recommend this race to women in the Boston area. All the women I talked with before the race and after were super encouraging and nice! There is always the question of why women's only races, and now with the recent (dumb) ruling about what constitutes a record, women's only races may become more popular among elites looking to set records. (Maybe.) Maybe I've become more of an experienced racer, but I feel like there is more of a race your own race mentality. Don't get me wrong, I loved chicking guys when the opportunity presents itself (which isn't often.) But I also love running with the ladies, and feed off the inspiration and the myriad reasons for running.

Ok, enough of the sappy emotions and onto the data:


Place 351/6440
Divpl 106/1953 F3039 (I'm getting old.)

Splits:
1 8:01.5
2 7:59.9
3 8:09.0
4 8:19.7
5 8:10.5
6 7:50.5
7 1:59.1