Race Report: Lennox Firecracker 10k

I had put off signing up for the Lennox Firecracker 10k until the morning of the race, because I wanted to see what the temperature held for the morning. I probably should've opted for the 5k based on the 91% humidity, but I wanted to get in a hard effort 10k to give me an idea of where my speed and endurance was leading into half marathon training.

I had hoped to be around 8:50 pace for the race. Spoiler alert: that didn't happen.

The firecracker went off, but since it went off at the start of the 1 mile/2 mile/5k and the 10k were lined up an opposite way, we were all a bit jostled when our starter just shouted out "Uh you should go now!" and we all took off.

There was a much smaller group for the 10k than normal, and I found myself all by my lonesome before we got to mile one.

Mile 1 9:02

I focused on trying to keep an even pace and not slowing down too much.

Mile 2 9:09

I did a decent job of that until we hit the portion on gravel during the 4th mile.

Mile 3 9:09

Mile 4 9:22

During this point I found a couple of people to chase, so I focused on the backs of their shirts to not fade any further.

Mile 5 9:21

I passed two of the three folks I was chasing during the final mile, but got very annoyed at the traffic on the open road. There was an SUV that literally ran me off the road because someone else was running in the middle of the road ahead of me, and I was hugging the curb. I ended up having to hop up on the sidewalk to pass the vehicle and dodge him. My final mile reflected how hard I worked in the last mile with my fastest split of the day.

Mile 6 8:57

The course ended up being a little bit short with my watch showing 6.06 miles. I heard that the 5k was .1 long, so it kind of averages out with the humidity and running twice as long, right? :P

I finished the race in 55:25 for a pace of 9:09.



More importantly, my nephew Harrison was in South Dakota and ran his very first 5k. So proud!!

 

Firecracker 10k Race Goals

I've debated all week about running tomorrow's race. Kyle and I have plans to go to his parents' cabin for the fourth of July weekend, and if I decided to bag the race, we could go up Thursday after work and have almost a whole additional day of fun. So I decided to let the weather decide my fate.

Lo and behold, a cold front pushed through midway through this week. Rumor has it, it was 47 degrees last night (=heaven). And Friday's forecast is mid- to low 60s. Insanely humid, and windy. But 60s! So I guess I'm racing.

Kyle is thrilled.

I solicited advice from running friends much of today to help me form my race goals and they are something as follows:

• PGSPR. Currently my PGSPR (Post-grad school PR) is 55:17.
• Course PR. I ran this race in 2011 (and crashed and burned). I ran a 54:14. I ran a 3 minute positive split, or something ridiculous like that. I just re-read my race report and laughed like a hyena. Enjoy that here.
• Sub 53. This is Kyle's prediction. 

10k from 2011

5k from 2010