Race Report: Lennox Firecracker 10k

About a month ago, I set my sights on the Lennox Firecracker 10k as my next race.  Granted this when I was still on my "yayzies I puffy heart love 10ks, they're so fun zomg!" high.  In the meantime, I slogged slow hot and humid mile after mile.  Zomg, so not yayzies......  As the date got closer, I all but talked myself out of the race completely.  It finally came down to, I'll wait and see what the hourly forecast reveals.  Well damn it anyhow when it said 67 degrees at 8am.  Considering it was supposed to be a high of 90 for the day I was shocked.  I'm in!  [I chose to ignore that pesky little 95% humidity listed next to the temp, because what's a shit-ton little humidity with a temp that low?!?!?!]

I posted a twitter poll for 5k v. 10k, and except for a few people out there who love me, it was a resounding 10k! 10k!  Do it, or I'll punch you in the face, or something like that, my memory is hazy.  So then I got super amped about the race.  "Well I ran a 7:55 pace on a hilly route last time, so clearly I should be able to run a 7:50 on a flat route, right?"  "Yes," I answered my inner dialogue.  "Yes I can!"

I got to the race nice and early with Aaron who was running the 5k (smart guy) and got in a quick little warm up jog.  Thinking I was going all pokey like, I was surprised to see I was "jogging" an 8:20 pace.  Er... ok.  The race started, and I thought I would try to keep Angie in my sights.  She's much speedier than me, but also wasn't "racing" the race.  We chatted along for the first quarter of a mile or so until we looked down at our watches and saw a 7:20 pace.  Uhhh oops!  Because this is a small town race, the route was literally out in the country and through the perimeter of the town.  And you know what that means.... no shade.... and **surprise** gravel!  But we'll get to that in a bit.

The first mile felt good but not as good as it should, if that makes sense.  I was right on pace running in to a slight breeze/wind.  From what I could tell I was sitting at 10th female.  The second mile felt much harder effort wise than the first, and I had said buh-bye to my race pace without even realizing it.  Uff.  It was h-o-t.  About a mile and a half in to the race, I stopped racing.  I figured I would shoot for tempo pace for the remainder (roughly 20-30 seconds slower than race pace).
Mile 1  7:56
Mile 2  8:12

The third mile had a millisecond of shade and I wanted to curl up and nap in it.  There were a couple of girls behind me that were gabbing away that I knew would pass me eventually.  Sad face.  And then I passed two other people, so it all evens out, right?

There were 3 different water stops (and I wouldn't have complained if there was double that, to be honest) and I was oh so happy every time to see them.  I'm not sure if they were set up by the race, or just random volunteers.  Gotta love the small town feel, right?  Around mile 4 my new goal was to not kill someone.  I was really regretting my decision to leave the iPod at home.  I would've given a kidney to listen to something other than my labored breathing.
Mile 3 8:29
Mile 4 8:51

Mile 5 was my $#!tshow mile in the last 10k I did, and this race was no different, except **surprise** let's do this mile on gravel!  And **double surprise** cars will drive by so you can barely breathe!  Death. Stomp. Pout. Repeat.  I stopped looking at my watch.  It's all I could do to not kick a puppy. 
Mile 5 9:20

Finally the last mile brought a few blocks of shade!  Yippee!!  But I was so toasted by this point, it didn't really matter.  I thought I could maybe catch the gal a ways in front of me, but also realized I didn't want to try too hard to do so..... picked up the pace, but she was too far out there.
Mile 6 9:05
.28 2:18 (8:11 pace)

I finished in 54:14 according to my garmin.  No official results that I've been able to see for a pace of 8:39.

I probably should've gone in to this shooting for a more conservative goal given the weather, although I think I still would've crashed and burned.  Really I should've done the 5k.  Grrrr....   My heart rate data at least says that I worked hard given that my heart rate was the same for the first fast mile as it was for the pokey 4th, 5th, and 6th miles.

Oh well, another race in the books, and time to start up training for the Sioux Falls Half Sub 1:50 or BUST!

10k comparison stats
(from Avera 10k in April)
Temp: 50* to 75*
Humidity: no mention of humidity compared to 95%
Pace: 7:55 to 8:39
Difference in fastest mile to slowest mile:  :23 v. 1:11.  bahahahahah.

Please tell me I'm not the only one that analyzes things like this..... :)