First Sub-50 10k - 48:03

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Well, to keep with tradition, I went out too fast, but this time with the distance it didn't hurt me. My first mile was just over 7:00 and I knew I was going out fast. I almost got tripped up a couple times with everyone standing along the edge trying to jump into the race when it started. That really irritates me.

I had a goal, as mentioned in this post, to get sub 55 so I could get a decent seeding for the Peachtree Road Race 2008 on July 4th. I secretly wanted to get a sub 50, but really didn't think I would be able to do so considering how my runs have been going lately.

The morning started off better than I expected, it wasn't too cold at about 50 degrees..... but that was at home out in the suburbs. When we got to Atlanta at about 7:15 AM it was really windy and felt more like about 40. I opted to run with my running pants and a long sleeve shirt as opposed to the shorts and short sleeve shirt like I originally planned.

I started the morning at 5:45 with a cup of coffee, a banana, and half of a soft wheat bagel. I drank a lot of water, and about 12 oz of gateraide right before leaving the house at 6:30. I rode down with my neighbors and right before the race they gave me a couple CLIF Shot Blocks. I vowed to never try something new on race day, but I broke that vow today. I feel pretty comfortable with the 10k distance so I figure I could suffer through it if I make a mistake.

As previously mentioned I started off a bit fast, as I knew I would. My first mile was just over 7:00 minutes, but then I settled into a good pace for the rest of the race between 7:45 and 8:15 for a average mile of 7:44. I missed the 5 mile marker so my mile 5 and mile 6 times were an average of the two which worked out to be almost exactly 8:00 each.

I was very happy with the course, it circled around a couple times, but kept us guessing as to where we were going. We did have a decent size hill that we had to climb just after the first mile, and because we had just passed the mile marker for mile 4 we knew we were going to be doing this hill again.

The 5k runners were finished, obviously half way through, but we also saw the 6 mile marker when we were passing there so we knew what our finish was going to be like well before time to enter the chute. This was nice, so we knew when we could turn it on near the end.

The most aggravating part of the entire race was at just past the 5 mile marker (which I didn't see...) all the 5 k walkers were completely covering the entire road. I, as well as many of the other 10k runners, had to go over into the part of the road that was not marked off just to get by the walkers. I am sure this cost me at least 1 second :)

I was happy that the race still went on as planned. As many of you heard I am sure, Downtown Atlanta got hit by tornado's on Thursday night which was the first time in history. It did a lot of damage downtown, but did not affect Midtown or Atlantic Station where this race was set to run.

I am pumped! This was a nice race to bring back some of my confidence. I haven't been feeling really good during my training runs lately and have been getting a bit discouraged. This really makes me again look on the bright side, and will help me with my training I am sure.

The official results are not yet posted on their website, and the pics are not yet posted either. I will update the post and/or post a new one when they do.

• Official time: 48:03 (I hung around to get my official time on paper for the Peachtree)
• Place: 33 in my age group (I have a tough age group) yea yea - I hear ya! :)
• My Race log of this race showing my splits.
• ShamRock 'N Roll official Website

**update** Well, the official race results are in, and my place changed from 33 to 34. I was 34th out of 74 in my age group and was 154th out of 789 overall. The official race results are here for the overall, and here for the age groups. They have the pics up too, but haven't found a good one yet.