Run 4 Independence - A New 10K Personal Record

When my alarm went off at 6:00 AM (after being on vacation for two weeks), I didn't have a good feeling about how the Run 4 Independence was going to go: I was tired, it was early, and Fiona (the sweetest little corgi) snuggled up against me in bed. Did I really want to get up to run 6.21 miles?

After a couple of minutes, I decided that "yes, indeed I did", and I crawled out of bed to perform the usual morning routine and get ready. My back felt a bit sore and when I saw the 181.0 on the scale (pre-vacation, I was roughly 175) I figured I was in for a rough run. Add in the fact that I hadn't ran more than 4 miles in three weeks and that I psychologically thought that my knees were hurting from running on the cruise ship last week, it wasn't looking good.

My goal, as always, was to set a new personal record (my 10K PR was 59:03). To beat it, I'd need to average a 9 minute 30 second per mile pace throughout the run. I wasn't sure that was going to happen, so at worst, I didn't want to set a new "personal worst". Mine is 1:02.58.4 which came on the hot and hilly Folsom Run with Nature course. The Run 4 Independence course was advertised as "flat and fast".

The weather was pleasant enough for a run. When I arrived in Elk Grove, there weren't a lot of people there yet, but it filled up quite well as it got closer to start time. I started the run too close to the front of the line (a habit I've developed in Folsom as there tend to be less runners), and I completed my first mile in 8 minutes and 8 seconds: much faster than needed. I hoped that I hadn't blown too much steam in the first mile. My second mile was nearly a minute slower at 9 minutes 5 seconds. Still ahead of the desired pace. My remaining miles were all slower than the desired pace, but not by enough to miss setting a new personal record:

	Pace		+/- Seconds
Mile	Target	Actual	Mile	Overall
1	09:30	08:08	+82	+82
2	09:30	09:05	+25	+107
3	09:30	09:36	-6	+101
4	09:30	09:48	-18	+83
5	09:30	10:11	-41	+42
6	09:30	09:52	-22	+20
+	02:02	02:08	-6	+14

I have a hard time buying that my final fraction of a mile was below desired pace (RunKeeper says my last fraction was ran at 8:22 per mile). I think the course (or my path through it) was actually 1/20 of a mile longer than a 10K. Doesn't sound like that big of a deal, but at 9.5 minutes/mile, 1/20 of a mile takes 28.5 seconds. Perhaps that's a sign that there's more I can take off of my PR in a future run.