Pit Bull Mentality

Well,..I won’t delay and say I not only ran Broad Street, but I raced it and kicked it’s a$$ a little.  Folks, I ran a ho-hum 4 minute PR for 10 miles and in the process broke my current (albeit bogus) 10K and 5 mile PRs by a lot – in the second half of the race. 

So without further fanfare and ego boosting, I present my race report.  I was going into this race like a well oiled machine,…when I look back at the past couple months, I don’t think there is much I could change to make it go any better.  Don’t you love when that happens?  Anyway, this race is ideal for me…point to point (one of the few left!) and you just run 10 miles straight down Broad Street (ok a little detour around City Hall).  Pretty much flat as a pancake with a few anthills (thanks SL for the reference).

Now I can tell you what my plan of attack was to be for today.  I had originally planned on 7:30 miles which would give me a 1:15.  I would be happy with that…as I would break my 10 mile PR.  After my four mile race a few weeks back, I knew that this should not even be a question.  My dad wanted to run with me which made me a little uneasy as he said he had not run a race hard in a long time (check that – 7 months ago at the marathon). I had told him I was running my race.  The start of this race is nuts – 15,000 people!  My dad still does not understand the lying involved with lining up at the start.  He insisted on starting with the 7 minute mile marker – however, when you see someone in long sleeves and pants, not a good sign (it’s singlet and shorts weather!). I think he still thinks its the good ole’ days of people actually running what they line up with (haha!). Gun goes off and I lose him right away as it was a clusterf**k of people.  The amount of zig zagging was obscene and I approach mile 1….at 7:05!  Yikes.  That is not what the plan called for today!

At this point, I try and call off the dogs a bit and slow to even things out.  It’s entirely too early to lose a race.  But one mile is not the end of the race. So mile 2 I come in at 7:40…which while slow for my race, I knew it was very necessaryto not psyche myself out.  At this point I settle into my wheel house rhythm of 7:30s…Miles 3,4,5 peel off with ease.  I hardly feel like I’m running and know another one of those magic days are ahead of me.  My dad caught up with me at mile 4 and says he’ll try to keep up.  I hardly notice as I’m just in that zone.  It was a very similar feeling to Brooklyn where the miles just felt like a Sunday jog. 

As I approached City Hall, approximately mid race, I decided enough of this feeling good and just breaking a PR, it’s time to race.  I’m a conservative runner and it shows as my PR times just peel off seconds.  However, I came to the executive decision to start trying to pull out 7:25 pace from that point until around mile 8.  At that point, I’ll reassess and see how much is left in the tank. Miles 6,7,8 go by and I feel absolutely GREAT.  I pulled out those 7:25s and it was obvious I felt a whole lot better than a lot of those around me.  My legs had bounce and I knew I had yet more to give.  Miles 9 and 10…bring it on. 

As mile 8 finished up, a few thoughts entered my mind.  First, a friend of mine, has told me I don’t have that *pit bull mentality* killer instinct.  Oh that got me mad…just because I look happy while running does not mean I don’t have a ferocious, killer instinct!  Second, it was time to just run like hell.  That was my ultimate motto.  It’s funny because generally I frown on this running as pacing is my specialty.  So I just ran.  I didn’t care about what my watch said.  I just ran. And ran with a smile…to the tune of a 7 minute mile 10! I think I accomplished running like hell and going for the *kill*.  Who the heck runs their fastest mile at the end of a 10 mile race?  My final chip time: 1:13:52! That left me 1559/13550 overall, 262/6144 for females, 76/1528 in my age group (all according to my gun time which is 1:15:40).

Splitsville: 1) 7:05 ( 2) 7:40  3) 7:32 4)7:30 5) 7:32 6)7:23 7)7:26 8)7:24 9)7:14 10) 7:01

So just how fast was my last half of the race? I ran a 36:28 last 5…which if you look to the right is shaving off almost a FULL two minutes off my current 5 mile PR (come to think about it…I broke my 5 mile PR in both halves)!  I also ran 44 flat for the last 6 miles…which probably with another .2 is decisively faster than my current 10K PR as well.  I have no idea what has happened in the past couple months but it’s extremely apparent that the 4 mile PR was no fluke. It’s just awesome to know all this hard work I’ve put in is coming together. And yes, we know it all comes down to eating cookies as the reason for yet another PR, right;-)

And as wonderful as the PR is, the best part of all? Having my dad there and having him give me the ultimate congratulations for a race well run!  That’s not an easy task….as the past two years while he will say I ran well, he would say, “nice job but you haven’t raced yet.”  Well, hello running world, I have entered the world of racing….and oh yeah…this is just a sneak preview of what’s to come.  See you next month….for the mini 10K….because yep, it’s time to chip off that PR.