The race is done and I kicked ass!

So here we go my second 10K of the year.  I have seen this race advertised the past couple of years and thought it would be cool to run it but well we know why I did not then.  But I have wanted to get into the Qualcomm stadium as I could never afford to go to a Charger Game.

So this came up and for the first time I signed up for a 10K not worrying about whether I could finish it or not.  the course was pretty flat and not a huge crowd running it.  My goal was to run the entire race without stopping, goals are good to have.

I started out pretty strong and set my pace with another runner that I had chatted with before the race.  She was pretty easy to follow as she had orange on and I could spot her easily, that is important when you are pacing with someone one.  Sometime I was ahead of her and other times she was ahead of me.  The cool part was every time she passed me or I passed her she shouted encouragement, and funny enough it was always just as I was going to stop.  I don’t know her name but I will always remember her kindness.

This was a dual race with some running a 5k and others running the 10K and at one point that really became an issue.  There is a point in the race where the 10K runners meet back up with the 5K runners and that can actually cause a issue with the 10K runners and here is why.  Those 5K runners still have a lot of energy and are running at a pretty good pace.  When I joined them I found myself trying to run their pace, well after 4 miles that will not work if you want to finish the race.  So I remembered something that my boss Robert had said about when he ran a marathon and this happened when the half marathon runners met, at first he started running that pace and was struggling so he slowed down and soon he was passing those runners that had been running the faster pace.  As I caught myself doing just that I slowed down and was able to keep on going and did not use up all my energy.

At mile 5 I could not run anymore and walked ran the final miles but I set a PR for this race.  No, I was not able to run entire 10k, but guess what I was awesome and this was the best 10K ever!. Overall I am happy with race because I set a PR, because I did not give up, because I got to run onto a 50 yard line but most of all because I ran and crossed the finish line.