Sutton Family Fitness 10k

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Surprisingly this was the first 10k I’ve ever raced. Weird, but it turns out I really enjoyed this distance. I’ve been fighting calf/shin issues for the past 2 months it seems so I didn’t have really any expectations for the race. Of course I said to myself that “Well, I’m not really going to race this 10k, just run it”. Yeah right.

This was a day of family fitness. My 11 year old son was going to run the 5k and my 5 year old daughter who wants to badly be a marathon runner was running her first mile race.

The morning turned out to be very comfortable with sun and little wind. We met up with some other friends who were also going to run the 5k race. Actually, you couldn’t have asked for a better day to race. My son was a bit nervous because for the first time (he’s run a few others) he was running by himself. I gave him my tips and tried to convince him he would do fine and if he had to then it was ok to walk. We had planned out that he would run 10 minutes to start and then in 5 minute intervals he would walk for 1 minute at a time. He seemed happy and excited.

As we lined up for the start the 5k racers to the left and the 10k racers on the right I looked over and I could tell my son was getting into it as he had is fingers on his watch and was waiting anxiously for the start. Then we were off and running.

Of course like any other race, even though I wanted to just “run” the race, I got into the mood and ran pretty fast for the first mile. I looked down at the Garmin (as this was the first race I had run with it) and saw that the first 1/2 mile I was at a 7:40ish pace. Waaaay too fast but I did seem to be in the groove.

The one thing I didn’t pay too much attention too before the race (nor did I prepare) was the course. I had no idea where we were running and if there were any hills. I did overhear someone say there was a big hill, but I had no idea. The first mile went well and I clocked in at 8:04 which in my head was still too fast for my plan. I briefly thought that I could run faster but didn’t want to push it.

The crowd had already fanned out and it was only me and a woman ahead of me. Well, I briefly saw a guy with a jog stroller cruise by me but he was soon far ahead of me. Impressive.

So, the woman ahead of me seemed to be running at our about my pace so I just tried to concentrate and control my breathing. A quick check and my legs seemed to be fun so the pace didn’t seem out of the ordinary. I tend to go fast the first two miles of anything I run (training or racing) so I just tried to relax and enjoy the day.

After the turn it was downhill for almost 2 miles and it felt good to push it a bit. I felt good and the legs seemed to be really holding out for me. I hit the first and only water stop at the 2.5 mile mark and I was a bit disappointed at the end of the race to find out that was the only water stop. I certainly felt the effects as I got closer to the end.

I continued to push hard and really had not problems with my legs. I couldn’t believe I actually was running hard and feeling good. I was passed around 3 miles by a guy who said to me “Looks like we will catch that woman any minute now” and I laughed as he pulled away. She had been our target and he made his move. I didn’t want to lose sigh of him so I picked it up a bit and we both passed the woman and surprisingly I battled to keep close to him the rest of the race, but he did beat me by about 2 minutes. Darn it.

I felt like I was going faster and faster but as I looked at my splits I was slowing down a bit. Still way under my goal time for the race. Then I hit the hill. Yikes, who puts a really steep hill at mile 5.25 of a 10k. Arg. I ran as hard as I could up the hill and it hurt. There was a mean curve halfway up the hill and all you could see was more hill.

I have to say it was a killer hill but it certainly didn’t beat me. After the hill I knew there had to be a downhill to the finish so I began to pick up the pace. Never having raced before with my Garmin, I really appreciated having it on this race. There were no mile markers and I was able to control my pace and also aim for different goals as the race progressed. Knowing I had about .6 left I wanted to really pick it up.

So I did. I ran the last 1/2 mile pretty fast making it all the way up to 6:05 min miles.

I finished strong and really impressed myself with my effort. My calves/shins didn’t hurt which was a good thing.

After finishing I saw my son who was so super proud of himself. He told me of the same hill on the 5k course and said “I had to walk up that never ending hill”. I was very proud of him and he did it all by himself.

Then came the last race of the day and my daughter rocked it. She ran her mile in 7:39 and didn’t look a bit winded. She waved to the crowd and smiled from ear to ear when she got her ribbon. She rocks and so does my son.

And to top off the beautiful day I actually placed 3rd in my age group and 17th overall. Holy crap that made my day, weekend, month. I rocked the race and it gives me hope in achieving some of my other goals I have set for myself. I am happy that I raced the 10k and also showed myself that I am only about 30 seconds off my goal half-marathon pace.

Not only did my family run but a couple of good friends also.

Not sure why my son and I are scowling but it truly was a great Family Fitness Day.

My stats.