Keep L.A. Running 10K Recap

At first I thought this race was going to be atrocious. First of all, my legs felt weird the whole week due to the 5K of last Sunday; I spent most of the week thinking doing events on back-to-back weekends might be a bad idea. Then Saturday was my first night at the new apartment. This resulted in only three and a half hours of sleep before heading out to Playa del Rey. And lastly, after the hour-long drive, I found out I only had $8 cash while parking was $10 and, since I don't know that area, got turned around while looking for a bank. Thankfully I was able to get my number and get to the starting line before the 8:30am starting time. It's a good thing the races were running 30 minutes late so, not only did I make it with enough time, but I was early! I like punctuality.



So, the races! The 5K started well. The setup of the course allows for spectators and 10K runners to see most of that race and the finish line while we wait for our starting gun. The overall winner finished in 15:16! That's amazing!

As that race winded down the 10K got started. It took me about 30 seconds to pass the starting line since I prefer beginning farther back in the pack and snake around the slow runners than to be clogging up the way for the faster ones. By the start I was feeling much better. I was not sleepy at all and I had an abundance of energy. My first mile is always a bit slow as I get settled into my pace, but after that I felt amazingly energized. I had not passed mile 2 and was already planning on picking up the pace at mile 3. I decided against this since there were a couple of short hills right before mile 4. Again, thanks to the route being set as a circle most of the way, you can see where you're going to be running in a few minutes. Another good thing about this route is that you get to see the finish line and the elite runners, so you can gauge really well how to use your energy and get pumped watching the amazing athletes that always lead these packs. So slightly after mile 4 I picked up the pace just a tad and cruised to the 5 mile marker. It was here where I began pushing the most. I knew that I could set a good time in this race, but I was not prepared for the amount of energy I had after 5 miles. I was able to keep a pretty good stride until the end.

My official race time was 52:22. Taking in consideration the 30 seconds of earlier I think I can finish my next 10K in under 50. I'll leave that to Mercury and the next race, whenever than is.

I'm starting to think that middle-distance races are my favorite. As much as I enjoyed the 5K last week, I think 10K and half marathons are going to be races I do the most. Speaking of which, I have 2 weeks for the 1st half of the SF Marathon!!! I can't wait!! I'm sure its going to be a good one.

One last thing, at the beginning of the 10K we were informed that Mel B. was going to be starting and running the race with us. Since I passed her sometime during the second mile I can officially say I can finish a 10K faster than a Spice Girls. One down, four to go. Bring it Spice World.