One of the great things about a pandemic (wait… what?) is that when you make up your own “race” since all the real races are canceled, you can name it any ridiculous thing you want. This morning I ran my own personal “Run for the Pumpkins 10k.”
I haven’t run a 10k in years and years. There just aren’t that many of them around here, for one thing, and it’s kind of an odd distance. There are always 5ks and half marathons, and I’ve run plenty of those. Even when the 10k distance is offered I shy away from it. I know (more or less) how to pace myself for a full or half marathon, and I’ve made it my mission to get better at the 5k distance so I have a pretty good idea how to run that race. But the 1ok is too long to go really fast and too short to go slow- it’s confusing.
Lately I’ve been doing a weekly tempo run but am having trouble nailing down the pace. I based it on my latest 5k (also a time trial, run on July 4th), which I plugged into an online pace calculator to get my 10k and half marathon equivalents. I’ve been trying to run my tempo runs anywhere between my 10k and half marathon pace (depending on how I feel that day) but it all seemed very nebulous. I decided I needed a true 10k time trial and “Run for the Pumpkins” was born.
Unlike the 4th of July, where my husband and I ran our “race” together, I did this one on my own. He hasn’t been doing any speedwork at all, so at this point he would rather do a slow ten mile long run on the weekend than attempt a 10k. I got up in the dark and rain, reflecting on my odd idea of fun things to do on my day off (I actually get up earlier on Sundays than the days I work). Luckily the rain stopped and the temperature was at a miraculously low 73 degrees (remember I live in Florida). After mile warmup and some strides, I started my race.
Wow, it was hard to get the pace right at the beginning. Maybe because I was fresh off the strides, but I started much too fast, faster than my 5k pace. I managed to reign it in, but that first mile was my fastest. But guess what my second fastest mile was- the last one! And I had a kick for the last .2 miles! I ran two loops of 3.1 miles, and quickly took a swig from my hidden water bottle in the middle (I didn’t stop my Garmin- I figure you always slow down a bit when you take water so it was similar to what happens in a real race).
Overall my average pace was 9:05 per mile. I know… that’s not fast. But it felt fast to me! And that kick at the end made me feel like my speed is coming back. Just for reference, I have a sub-48 minute 10k PR, set in the old days, before kids. I know it was a long time ago and I’m older now, but I really believe I have it in me to set a new PR. Not now of course. But you have to start where you are… and now I know where I am.
You know what the hardest mile was? MY COOLDOWN MILE. My entire body really, really didn’t want to cool down- it wanted to lie down. But I did it. I reached 30 miles for the week, and this was a cutback week. So I’m happy! Next up will probably be a 5k or 10k on Thanksgiving, and then either a full or half marathon in the winter- in person or virtual, depending on when races come back. But when they do come back, I’ll be ready.
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