#racereport - Reeds Lake 5k/10k

When I created my Detroit Marathon training plan, I knew I had a 10 miler scheduled for 6/7/14.  Last year I ran the 10k at Reeds Lake and it's my current PR (by a HUGE margin).  I love the race because it's such a pretty course and last year we got pint glasses at the expo. I knew I had no chance to come anywhere close to a sub-60 10k this year, so I decided to run the double (run the 5k at 8am and the 10k at 9am).  I'd need to add an extra mile to hit 10 miles so I figured I'd run it between the two races.

I met up with a couple friends at the "expo" Friday afternoon and grabbed my race packet and shirt.  Sadly, no pint glasses this year.  (Last year was the 35th anniversary, so the glasses must have been for that.)  Pete and I headed over to Derby Station where I splurged on a Smitten RyePA from Bells.  Twas lovely.

I got home and checked out the course.  The 5k and 10k start in the same place, but begin in opposite directions.  The 5k is flat and through the town of East Grand Rapids while the 10k loops the lake before joining the 5k course around the 2/4 mile point.  I got Flat Bari ready and mentioned to one of my friends that I felt very unprepared.  I wasn't feeling great about this race. I'd been waffling all week over which shoes to wear, when to do my extra mile, what the weather would be like. You know, basically causing my own freakout over a training run.

I broke the cardinal rule of racing and wore a brand new top.  I'd stopped at Lululemon and found my favorite Run Swiftly tank in this really cool coral color.  The tank worked great (as I knew it would).  The Moving Comfort Juno bra, on the other hand, has to go.  On every run over about 5 miles it chafes the living shit out of my back.  Sometimes it chafes under my boobs.  Today it bled.  I really need to find a better bra or I'm going to need a transfusion after the marathon.

As per usual, I slept like crap Friday night and woke up before my alarms.  I had my usual coffee and oatmeal (about the only grains I eat anymore) and headed down to the race.  I got there about 35 min before the start, so I decided spur of the moment to run my extra mile as a warm up.  The run really felt like crap. My legs felt dead and I was already hot. It wasn't the best way to start my 10 miler but at least I got it out of the way.

1 mile W/U - 11:37

The 5k - 35:13 (11:20 pace)- I had plans to meet up with my friend Jessica before the race, but we didn't find each other before the gun went off.  I lined up near the back and worked to stay really controlled.  My training plan pace for the 10 miles was supposed to be around an 11:45 pace and I was running most of the 5k in the low to mid 11s.  Close enough.  Right around 1 mile I hear Jessica.  She'd seen my Fellow Flower flower in my hat and chased me down :)  We ran the rest of the 5k together, chatting and just having a comfortable run.  I knew my time was going to be no where near my 5k PR but it wasn't my worst time either (I have several others with that distinction).  Looking back at my Garmin paces showed I really faded the whole 3.1 miles, except we were trying so hard to control our pace for the last .1 and that one picked up quite a bit. (11:10, 11:22, 11:30, 10:25 pace for last .1).  After the 5k, we grabbed some water, a strawberry, a bathroom break, and I did some stretches.  With all that, it was good I didn't try to run in between because I wouldn't have had time.

Post 5k and feeling great!

The 10k - 1:11:15 (11:28 pace) - Jessica's plan was to try and run the 10k hard and shoot for a PR, so we split up.  By 9am, it was feeling quite warm out and a good portion of the 10k course is in full sun. It's also really hilly (for around these parts).  I felt pretty good for the first couple miles and was even speeding up a bit while at the same time trying to stay controlled because I knew I still had a good 4 miles to go and the biggest hill was coming up.  Right after the 2 mile mark, I caught up to Jessica, who was struggling a little with the heat and hills.  I hung with her for the rest of the race, walking the uphills and running the flats and downhills.  We also ran through every sprinkler and stopped at aide stations to dump water on our heads.  It was WARM.  It was so nice to have someone to run with since in 90% of my races I've run alone.  We chatted, we were quiet, we laughed in the sprinklers.  It really was a very nice morning to run with a friend.  Knowing this was "just a training run" also kept the pressure off to try and run too fast.  Jessica needed another break around .4 miles from the finish and she told me to take off, so I did.  It felt good to open it up at the end and pass a least 1/2 a dozen people.  Again, I was pretty sure this race would go down as one of my worst from a timing standpoint, but it wasn't.  I beat my awful 10k time from North Carolina by 14 seconds :)  The finishing kick definitely helped there (11:28, 11:03, 11:36, 11:17, 11:53, 11:25, 9:30 pace for last .2 - it's nice to know I can at least turn it on for a quarter mile).

Cute pic Jessica's hubby snapped at around mile 4.5 or 5.

The Takeaways - Today, I think I showed some maturity as a runner that I haven't in the past.  I was able to "check my ego at the start" like one of my friends suggested and run a very controlled "race".  I'm ok with the paces I put up today.  They were pretty much on target for today's training run (ending up with 10.3 miles in 1:58:05 and an 11:27ish pace).  Given the heat and sun, I'm totally ok with this.  I've also now officially run my first race "double", not counting doubles I ran in training for the relay last year.  It was a fun way to get in my miles along with a few hundred of my closest friends.

Did you race this weekend?