Tidewater Striders Distance Series - Part 1 of 3

The 10K started out average - the weather was humid and thick, but I ran a decent 2.5 miles on pace with Diana (23.5 minutes). Ironically, as the weather became progressively gorgeous (see the photo below - it was 75 and sunny by the time the race was over), I felt worse and worse. Slowing my running pace turned into bits (OK, lots) of walking. I eventually lost sight of Diana.

I had no energy after mile 2.5 (as the TriDuo photos show - I've only found two so far, but I look like I'm simultaneously pissed off and about to pass out). The toast and OJ before the race did nothing for me. Going so slow left me plenty of time to think, and unfortunately, it's hard not to be negative when you're going so slow (and 60-year-olds are passing you, haha). There were two decent-sized hills, which I've never run before. I vowed to use the treadmills at the gym, if only to do hillwork, since, uh, there are very few around here to train on. I've got to take it up a notch if I want to run the 20K (the entire course twice) in six weeks.

I was never so glad to see a finish line. My final time was 1:19:00 - about a minute slower than the Turkey Trot 10K, so I didn't do as poorly as I thought I would. Oh! The whole way to Fort Story, Diana and I were joking about our friend Greg (a co-worker and insanely awesome runner) ending up with a better time than us, even though he was running twice as far. Sure enough, with 100 feet to go to the finish line, I heard "Hey Laura, how's it going?" and he zoomed past me. He came in sixth for the 20K. I think he averaged 6.5 minute miles. He is so awesome.

And I have so much training ahead of me. I'm really psyched though. Although I had a bad headache after the race, my legs felt good. I'm very much back in the groove of training.