Lilac 10K

10K’s are an odd beast.  They require you to run at a pace not normally practiced.  Common training paces include 1 mile race pace, 3k-5k race pace, and tempo pace which is about what you would run for an hour long race.  Most preformance calculators indicate I should be able to run a 10K in in about 34:30 or 5:34 pace.  That just isn’t a pace I ever run.  So when the Lilac 10K rolled around I found myself running either 5:22 pace (my 5k race pace) or 5:55 pace a little over my tempo pace. According to my ancient running lore, back in the 80’s almost all races were 10K’s or marathons.  5K’s were for the track and half marathons were unheard of.  It is telling that in all the years I have been running (most of which are post 1980’s) I have only run 2 10K’s, but I have run more than 100 5k’s and 6 half marathons.  Not only do I not practice running at 10K pace, I just never race that distance.  But all of this is really besides the point.  The point is, I ran a terrible race. I just flat out ran like crap.  Yes it was hot and humid, yes I am not practiced at running the distance, yes I am still sleep deprived.  But really there is no excuse for running a 6.2 mile race slower than I ran the first 6.2 miles of my last 13.1 mile race. 

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rstARPR9C3s[/youtube]

 My 10K PR still sits above 36 minutes 36:14 to be exact.  As I see it I am left with 2 choices.  I can wait another 6 years before I run another 10K or I can find the first available 10K race and put down a respectable effort.  I think I’ll wait the 6 years.

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  1. Don’t sweat it. Especially the way that course is set up…you can really get screwed by going out too fast. It’s a really hard race to run.

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