Perfect 10-Miler

No, it wasn't all that perfect; that's just what they call the thing. It was, however, fine. Fine isn't as good as perfect, but it's pretty good.

This is the fourth year for this race, and I'd done all the others, so of course I had to keep going. Even though the cool autumn-like rain might have otherwise had me stay at home. My previous times were: 66:30, 67:30, 63:51!!! That last one reflects my good running year of 2006. I knew I wasn't in that kind of shape in 2007. My 10Ks had been about 2 minutes slower than those of 2006. So I expected this 10-miler to be 3-4 minutes slower. I just wanted to do under 70 minutes. A bonus would be to run every mile under 7 minutes.

The rain was fairly light, but felt really cold. That's a good thing. I had a rough time in that first mile. It was crowded, and I just couldn't get untracked. When my watch told me it went by in 7:05, I knew that particular goal was out the window. The next few were under 7 minutes, but not spectacular. But that was ok. I really wanted to do negative splits. That's assuming I had anything left. The 5-mile mark went by at about 33:50 or so.

The long gradual hill at mile 6 caused me to go over 7 minute pace once again, but then came the good part. Coming back down the hill produced my best split at 6:23, and the rest were good as well. My finish on the track was strong, and I crossed the line in 67:08.

That's about as good as I could've expected. No AG award - lots of fast guys there. At some point, I need to get myself up to the next level. That will involve getting my weight *down* to the next level.