I heart 10ks

The last two weeks have been insane. Work has been stressful and busy, and I had two miss two group runs due to work and school obligations. I ran solo to make up for them, but that's not as fun.

However, this last Saturday I missed the group long run for a much more enjoyable reason: a race. I haven't run a race since I ran the half of the Seattle Marathon in November, and I haven't run a 10k since August, so I was pretty stoked for the Can Do 5k/10k.

A little history. I started seriously road running (and by that I mean training for races) in January 2010. Previously, I had mostly worked out at the gym, because I was convinced that road running would send my back into spasms because it had happened before. But for some reason I decided to give it another go, and I ran my first 5k in mid-February.

The 2010 Can Do 10k, in March, was the first 10k I ever ran. It was probably one of the most exhilarating physical experiences I've had in my life. It had been barely three months since I had set this goal to run a 5k, and then I set this goal to run a 10k, and I did. Not only did I do it, but I placed 6th out of 115 with a time of 49:07. At that point, 6.2 miles still seemed like a long way, and I had run it way faster than I could have imagined I was capable of when I started training just a few months prior.

So I signed up again, because it had been such a good experience last year, and it's a small race, and a cheap race, and they have good t-shirts. This year, I had some frustrations. I actually missed the starting gun of the race because I was in line for the bathroom, so I got off about 45 seconds late. Fortunately chip timing renders your start time moot, and the late start spurred me to run the first mile in 7:00 flat. By the third mile, my field position was probably about the same as it would have been had I started on time.

The course this year was a little bit odd, with a lot of twisting and turning through business park parking lots (although they got rid of the dog leg right at the end of the race, thankfully. It's such a tease to see the finish line, then have to run past it and double back). At mile 5, the insole of my shoe slipped and started irritating my foot. I tried to run through it, but it was affecting my stride so I had to stop and fix it, losing probably 15 seconds. Then, as I crossed the finish line, they only had the clock up for the 5k race, so I had to rely on my watch for my time. Not a big deal, but it's fun to see your time as you cross the finish line.

In the end, I placed 5th out of 97, with a time of 48:10, almost a minute faster than last year despite shoe issues. Also, this year my name will stay up on the results website, because the leaderboards list the top 5 finishers. Because in the end, vanity is a huge motivator for me.