My first 10K: "The Toughest 10K in Texas"

I ran my first 10K this past weekend in Lampasas, Texas (which is about 20 miles west of where my parents live). I had such a great run, despite the 12 hills that make this the ‘Toughest 10K in Texas.’ I felt I ran pretty ‘conservative’ and was actually able to run a negative split in mile 6 and sprint the last .22 mile! I met and had conversations with two very nice runners, Jesse Keller from Kingwood and Cliff Hatfield from Corpus Christi. Jesse’s encouragement kept me going strong from miles 1-3 and Cliff was able to get me to push in the last two miles where I thought I would weaken due to my sore shin. Miles 1-3 were the toughest for me, just because it took me a while to get my breathing strong and my legs awake. Three-fourths of the other runners in the race passed me up right away. Oh well, I thought, I just really want to finish strong. I stopped for water at mile 1.5 and wanted to stop again at mile 3 but they ran out of water! Not cool, I actually wanted to make a comment about it to the race management afterwards but forgot. A mile 4 I knew I was going to finish strong and stopped one more time for water and started to push myself. At that point I knew I could have used some Gatorade but I had forgotten my fuel belt at home. As I saw the mile 6 sign, I kicked it up and my breathing started to get crazy—I actually felt myself wanting to hyperventilate. I finished with a huge smile on my face as I crossed the finish at exactly 1:04:00. Nice! My goal was to finish in under 1:05, so I knew it was possible, although in my training runs I have never run a 10K in under 1:07! Great PR for me, and can’t wait for the next 10K, it’s a really good distance for me. I would like to finish under an hour, and I think that’s very possible for me.

The Stats:
Mile1: 10:05
Mile2: 10:14 (I missed the mile 2 split somewhere so I just estimated on my watch)
Mile3: 10:14
Mile4: 11:35 (Long water break)
Mile5: 10:36
Mile6: 8:55
Mile.2: 1.03 (For some reason that doesn’t look right but like I said, I was sprinting like a mad dog!)

OFFICIAL TIME: 1:03:45.65
AVERAGE PACE: 10:16/m
HEART RATE: 150 Ave 192 Max
WEATHER: 85 degrees, 30 % humidity