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| Chugging along in the Panerathon EXPO 10K |
I had some slow going following the Knoxville Marathon, not really logging the miles I'd like. Apparently, the marathon took a lot more out of me than I had realized at the time. That's OK. I PR'ed so the tradeoff has been worth it.
Over the past couple months, I did run 3 races. Nothing spectacular but fun nonetheless. I had a pair of 5Ks and a my first-ever 10K. (Yes, I know I've ran 8 or 9 half marathons and 4 full marathons. Guess I like to do things out of order.)
The first race was the Ultimate Climb 5K on May 3, while the 10K was the EXPO 10K on May 24. Lastly, I ran the CoSIDA 5K on June 10. All 3 were very different races, but all 3 were fun experiences.
Ultimate Climb 5K - May 3 in Corbin, Ky.
I was not planning to run this race, but I was given a free entry to it so I said what the heck.
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| The t-shirt and my medal for winning my AG. |
This race tends to scare off a number of runners because it has one hill ... but it is daunting.
The hill came at the end of Mile 2 and lasts approximately a half mile. However, I did not know the full course detail until the morning of the race, so coming up with a game plan on how to attack this race was done at the spur of the moment. The first mile was relatively flat as it looped around the arena and the parking lot atop the hill before going downhill for a small loop around the base of the hill. Then, it was back up the hill and around the arena to the finish line.
Not in real race shape as I was 4-5 weeks off of running the marathon, I knew a PR was not in the cards. My real goal was a sub-30.
Needless to say, I surprised myself with my time of 27:55!
My plan was to go all out for the first couple miles ... well, at least until it was time to climb the hill. Mile 1 was a breeze as I posted a 7:59 split. At the end of Mile 2 was the start of the hill, but I still turned in a split of 8:48.
Knowing I was under 17 minutes for the first 2 miles, the sub-30 was in the bag. Now the goal was to finish strong.
The hill is long but the first 3/4 of it is not that steep. It's merely a steady climb. The final .2 of it is rather steep, so I backed off a bit to keep my stamina for the final .75 of the race. Upon reaching the summit, I kicked my speed up again and posted a 10:25 split for Mile 3. I finished the final .10 at an 8:10 pace to give me my final time of 27:55.
This is a small, local 5k. Only 26 participants, which meant I won my age group and placed 10th overall. I get why some don't run this race. The hill does look ominous, but this race is for a great cause. All the proceeds go to fight cancer.
It's a fun race, and one I highly recommend. And I will be back. Oh yes, I will.
Panerathon EXPO 10K - May 24 in Knoxville, Tenn.
Another race which supported a good cause: fighting hunger.
And while I have run 8-9 half marathons and 4 fulls, this was my very first 10K. I had been wanting to run this race for some time but hadn't been able to for various races. But everything aligned perfectly to allow me to this year.
The course was a double loop in part of downtown Knoxville. It wasn't as crazy hilly as the marathon, but hills were ever present. Like at the start, midway point and of course the finish.
Not being able to run with much consistency due to changes at work and having to travel for work, I had to alter my original goal for this race. A sub-55 was what I desired, but I backed off to shoot for a sub-1 hour.
Unfortunately, I didn't quite get it ... even though I thought I had at first. You will see what I mean in a bit.
I finished with a respectable time of 1:00:23. Average pace was 9:43, so I'm pleased with it.
The first 3 miles went fairly well and fast as I posted splits of 9:03, 9:38 and 9:33. I might've gone out a tad too fast at the start, but that was likely due to being too close to the start line and mixed in with the majority of the faster runners, forcing me to go out hard to keep from getting ran over.
Mile 4 was a little rough as the hill to start the second loop seemed much harder this time around. Turned in times of 10:05 and 9:59 on Miles 4 and 5, but I turned it up a notch in Mile 6 with a 9:32 split.
Kept the speed going during the final .2 at a pace of 8:00/mile.
The finish was a bit confusing as they had 2 finish lines - 1 for the 5K and another for the 10K. Thought I was done when I got to the first finish line, but noooooooo!!! I still had another .1 to go.
So after dialing it down, I had to crank it back up. Because of the 'fake' finish line, I thought I had my sub-1 hour goal time. But alas I did not.
I am satisfied with this race because I knew I gave it my all, needing a few minutes to collect myself post-race since I felt like I was going to die. Nearly hit puke zone down the stretch of this race.
Another reason I enjoyed this race was that it was in Knoxville, meaning I got to see a number of my running friends.
CoSIDA 5K - June 10 in Orlando, Fla.
This is the annual 5K at the CoSIDA Convention, which is always a fun one to do with my colleagues in the profession. Plus, it raises money for a good cause: the Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida.
It is ran on the golf course at the Orlando World Marriott and is a simple out-and-back course.
I finished in 31:15 and posted negative splits, so I'm please. Knew this wasn't going to be a PR kind of day for a couple of reasons. First, I ran each of the previous 2 days with some of my faster friends, so my legs were a bit tired. Secondly, this was on the third day of the convention, and I had back-to-back long days of meetings, dinners, etc, and the 6 a.m. start time was not kind to me. Lastly, it was at 6 a.m. Too early for a race.
My splits were 9:59, 9:51 and 9:37. Not great for me, but not bad either.
The hill came at the end of Mile 2 and lasts approximately a half mile. However, I did not know the full course detail until the morning of the race, so coming up with a game plan on how to attack this race was done at the spur of the moment. The first mile was relatively flat as it looped around the arena and the parking lot atop the hill before going downhill for a small loop around the base of the hill. Then, it was back up the hill and around the arena to the finish line.
Not in real race shape as I was 4-5 weeks off of running the marathon, I knew a PR was not in the cards. My real goal was a sub-30.
Needless to say, I surprised myself with my time of 27:55!
My plan was to go all out for the first couple miles ... well, at least until it was time to climb the hill. Mile 1 was a breeze as I posted a 7:59 split. At the end of Mile 2 was the start of the hill, but I still turned in a split of 8:48.
Knowing I was under 17 minutes for the first 2 miles, the sub-30 was in the bag. Now the goal was to finish strong.
The hill is long but the first 3/4 of it is not that steep. It's merely a steady climb. The final .2 of it is rather steep, so I backed off a bit to keep my stamina for the final .75 of the race. Upon reaching the summit, I kicked my speed up again and posted a 10:25 split for Mile 3. I finished the final .10 at an 8:10 pace to give me my final time of 27:55.
This is a small, local 5k. Only 26 participants, which meant I won my age group and placed 10th overall. I get why some don't run this race. The hill does look ominous, but this race is for a great cause. All the proceeds go to fight cancer.
It's a fun race, and one I highly recommend. And I will be back. Oh yes, I will.
Panerathon EXPO 10K - May 24 in Knoxville, Tenn.
Another race which supported a good cause: fighting hunger.
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| Got to run with Brooke and Kelly once again. |
The course was a double loop in part of downtown Knoxville. It wasn't as crazy hilly as the marathon, but hills were ever present. Like at the start, midway point and of course the finish.
Not being able to run with much consistency due to changes at work and having to travel for work, I had to alter my original goal for this race. A sub-55 was what I desired, but I backed off to shoot for a sub-1 hour.
Unfortunately, I didn't quite get it ... even though I thought I had at first. You will see what I mean in a bit.
I finished with a respectable time of 1:00:23. Average pace was 9:43, so I'm pleased with it.
The first 3 miles went fairly well and fast as I posted splits of 9:03, 9:38 and 9:33. I might've gone out a tad too fast at the start, but that was likely due to being too close to the start line and mixed in with the majority of the faster runners, forcing me to go out hard to keep from getting ran over.
Mile 4 was a little rough as the hill to start the second loop seemed much harder this time around. Turned in times of 10:05 and 9:59 on Miles 4 and 5, but I turned it up a notch in Mile 6 with a 9:32 split.
Kept the speed going during the final .2 at a pace of 8:00/mile.
The finish was a bit confusing as they had 2 finish lines - 1 for the 5K and another for the 10K. Thought I was done when I got to the first finish line, but noooooooo!!! I still had another .1 to go.
So after dialing it down, I had to crank it back up. Because of the 'fake' finish line, I thought I had my sub-1 hour goal time. But alas I did not.
I am satisfied with this race because I knew I gave it my all, needing a few minutes to collect myself post-race since I felt like I was going to die. Nearly hit puke zone down the stretch of this race.
Another reason I enjoyed this race was that it was in Knoxville, meaning I got to see a number of my running friends.
CoSIDA 5K - June 10 in Orlando, Fla.
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| Always fun to get to run with friends you don't see very often. Here I am with Blake, a SID friend from Oregon. |
It is ran on the golf course at the Orlando World Marriott and is a simple out-and-back course.
I finished in 31:15 and posted negative splits, so I'm please. Knew this wasn't going to be a PR kind of day for a couple of reasons. First, I ran each of the previous 2 days with some of my faster friends, so my legs were a bit tired. Secondly, this was on the third day of the convention, and I had back-to-back long days of meetings, dinners, etc, and the 6 a.m. start time was not kind to me. Lastly, it was at 6 a.m. Too early for a race.
My splits were 9:59, 9:51 and 9:37. Not great for me, but not bad either.
WOAH! Check out all that running and those impressive times! Hope it doesn't take you so long to write another post! :)
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Thanks for your comment, Kyanna! I'm really going to try to update more regularly from here on out. :)
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