Park to Park 10km

Long overdue update!

Been a long time since the state road race fiasco. School has started, and I am really enjoying my one and only class, muscle physiology. For my research topic this semester, I am studying exercise-associate muscle cramping (EAMC) that is often experienced by endurance athletes during the later stages of a race. Kind of interesting, it happened to me a little bit over a month ago! I am also continuing to work on my thesis, which is going awesome, I am really enjoying testing the kids and getting results. I will be done with coursework in December, and hope to also have my thesis defended then as well! Then it will be on to the real world!

I took part in my first running road race yesterday during the Park to Park 5k, 10k, and half-marathon. It was a lot of fun, with over 1300 athletes competing! I didn't know what to expect as I prepared on race day, and during the race. I figured a high fiber meal right before hand wouldn't have been good, so I stuck to cereal and a banana. I was off to George Wyth State Park at 6:15am and ready to race by 6:45. I got a 10min warmup in with a couple pickups. I lined up towards the end of the 7:00-7:30 pace line, hoping to maintain around a 7:20min/mile. Soon we were off, and after the first mile, I was at 7:10 and feeling really good. So I picked up the pace a bit and by mile 2, I had been at 6:55. WOW!!!! I was under 7min/mile pace, but could I hold it. The 10km race split from the half/5k and I was soon in a land by myself with only 1 guy and 1 girl ahead of me. I caught the guy in front of me, and then the lady at the turn around. My heart rate was still doing very well, at around 180bpm(Threshold) as I turned for home. As I made contact with the trail back to the finish line, 5k runners were on the trail and I made it a point to catch as many as possible. I sprinted for the line and finished with a time of 43:20. This time gave me a pace of 6:59min/mile! I was so stoked with this!! Couldn't believe how well I had done, for never running before in my life until about 4 weeks ago!

I ended up 4th place overall out of 62men, and 179 total 10km runners. I did win my age group by 40 seconds! The next Pre? I highly doubt it, but it gives me a lot of confidence that I can continue to improve my running this winter!

So what is up next? I am doing the Peregrine Charities Olympic Distance triathlon next weekend. I did the Pigman earlier this year, and had a lot of fun, and this is exactly what I am looking to do here. HAVE FUN! No pressure on myself, just go out and give everything I can. Swimming has been coming back to me, and feeling good, cycling is cycling and the running is coming around! I am stoked for the challenge!!!

Until next time! Live each day to its fullest!