Fowl Fun Run 10k

Today was the Fowl Fun Run 10K, in Mount Vernon, WA. The race started at 10:00, which was kind of nice, since it was a cold, clear morning (36 degrees at race time). I ran a warmup mile and decided to go with just shorts and two tech shirts (long sleeve on top of short sleeve). I wish I had worn my gloves, as my hands got cold during the race.

Before the race, I told myself to go out at or slower than the 7:00 first mile during my last 10K, back in September. Did I listen to my own advice? Ha! Since when have I done that? I hit the 1 mile mark at 6:39. Crap. Funny how the first mile feels so effortless. I backed off the pace after that. Here were my splits:

6:39
7:08
7:13
7:11
7:04
7:00
(1:02 for last .2)

Final time: 44:06, for a 7:06 per mile pace. I ended up beating my previous 10k time, back in September, by 53 seconds. Aside from the first mile, I'm pleased with how consistent my splits were, compared to my last 10k. Even though I was hurting during the final 2 miles, I managed to pick up the pace just a little.

My first 5k split was 21:48, which is faster than my 5k race I ran back in June (22:20). In fact, my second 5k split was also faster, at 22:18.

I placed 23rd out of 127 runners, and 5/10 in my age group (20/67 for men).

During the awards, I won a large pumpkin pie in a drawing. My family came along with me, which was really cool. The best part of the whole experience was both of my daughters saying they wanted to run the 2-mile next year. They saw a lot of kids doing it and I think they finally believe that they can also do it. I'm going to hold them to it, too!

I'm pleased with how my "running resurrection" is progressing this year. I'm still not speedy, but I'm seeing improvement, and enjoying every minute of every mile!

Oh, one final note. I made a point to go around and thank every volunteer at this race. They all really appreciated it. I would strongly encourage you to thank your race volunteers. Don't worry, I'm not on a "high horse", as I never used to do this myself, and I've only volunteered at one race (a 50k last weekend), but I'll do so from here on out. I also cheered and clapped for the lead runners during the race as they came back by me after the turnaround. I probably looked like a dork, and it might have cost me a few seconds and some valuable breath, but as corny as it sounds, I'm so thrilled to be racing again that I get caught up in the excitement.

Okay, enough for now. Next up is the Christmas Rush 10k on December 12th, followed by another half marathon or two early next year.