2012 Shore to Shore 10K - Race Report

This race I thought was going to be a great fun race.  I turned out to be one of the most horrible runs Ive ever done.  It was harder than anything I had previously done.  this was my first official 10K race.  Id run 10k before in training of course so the distance was no surprise to me.   Many things played a huge roll in my DLF.

Yup I finished Dead Last.  Well I was still alive.  Not only was this humiliating and a huge blow to my ego but it was back home in my local hometown.   Which made me feel like DNS>DLF.

I know I wasnt fully prepared for the race overall but I was capable of running the distance and I knew and expected to finish in under 1 hour.  When I got there as I was driving into the park i got a very ugly feeling of what was ahead of me.  The race would be run on the roads inside the state park and they were much hillier than I had remembered.

I thought going into this I would fare pretty well.  Low numbers for the 10k Lots of 5k runners.   AS the start time approached.  It got muggier 90% humidity mid 80's  I was OK as the race started and kept pretty good pace through the 3 mile mark when we hit the first Big hill. I was pacing at about 9:45 and I felt pretty good about it.  I felt like I could maintain, but the heat and the hills caught up to me quick.  At 2.25 We begin the first big hill climb.  It was over a 100' of climb in a half a mile.  I believe this hill and the the following hill were what drained my tank and stole all my energy and motivation.  After getting to the top I felt a little bit relieved and head back down.  I was slower and the people I had been pacing with were 100 yards ahead of me now.  I knew I was slowing but I had some down hill and flat to catch up to them.  I made slight progress until I hit the next hill, 120' of climb in .6 miles.  This was where I stopped to walk the first time.  This hill seemed to never end and walking killed my motivation.   So disappointed.  From here on out it was hill after hill and I just never regained my legs or my drive.   I knew as I was in the last mile that I was maybe one of the last ones and I was pretty sure there was no 10K racers behind me.  That only added to the de-motivation.

I was the last one to cross and despite the feeling of accomplishment of finishing my first 10k race I was angry at myself for letting my fitness level go so far that I was this slow and this out of shape to not even finish under 11 min avg. pace.

I hung around for awards just to give props to the other racers I ran with and embarrassingly placed in my age category.    I hate that feeling.  Not a good showing at all and Im not sure Ill run the race again...Or maybe I will just to redeem myself.