Final Stretch Running Opener 10k - April 2, 2011

After my last race I talked about how excited I was to get off my treadmill and back outside for training.  Well, that hasn't happened yet.  Winter continues to hold a tight grip on our area.  The snow is melting again after another major blizzard, but still plenty of ice and snow on the ground along with temperatures consistently running 10-15 degrees colder than normal.  That said, we had a halfway decent weather day for today's race.  Clear skies, a race temp in the upper 30's with northwest winds 7-10mph.  Afternoon temps shot into the 50's, but the race started at 9:00am this morning.

The 10k event consisted of two full laps around Lake Phalen in St Paul.  The course had a few minor alterations due to an icy patch along the lake trail which doubled as our course today.  The lake itself was still ice covered which is unusual for the beginning of April.  This was a surprisingly difficult course with several hills that caught your attention.  The most challenging hill was on the far side (east side) of the lake.  It rose gradually before turning left up a very sharp incline.  Being a two lap race I had the pleasure of climbing it twice at mile 2 and mile 5.  Not surprisingly, the hill posed a greater challenge on mile 5 as my tank was close to empty by that point.

I was hoping to run around 40 minutes flat today which is 45 seconds off my personal best set last July.  However I ran the first mile (6:30) about 10 seconds slower than I intended to run it.  The challenging hill in miles 2 and 5 also set me back.  I never really settled into my goal pace as my mile splits bounced up and down too much to hit my groove.  Today's race was not one of my primary target races and I realized my motivation and mental toughness wasn't strong enough to challenge or break 40 minutes today.

My time was 41:11 (6:38/mile race pace).  I finished 9th among 170 finishers and 1st among 8 in my age group.  This was just my 6th fasted 10k and well off my personal best.  A very good 6 mile tempo workout in preparation for my next race in two weeks.  The Earth Day Half Marathon in St Cloud.  I ran this race back in 2008 as my first half marathon and also my slowest half marathon (1:48:41).  My goal is to break 90 minutes for the first time ever.  Good health and weather permitting, I feel confident I can achieve this goal, but I will need to kick my mental toughness up a notch from what I showed today.  Hopefully there will be more 50 degree days ahead so I can finally get off the treadmill and train outside in normal conditions again.     

Race Results:
http://onlineraceresults.com/race/view_plain_text.php?race_id=18248