Monday, October 16, 2006

Pumpkin Run 10 km -- 4th place, 36:46

This is my 3rd consecutive year running the local Pumpkin Run 10K (10km = 6.21 miles). I decided to forgo the green fourescent wig this year and just try to run it as best as I could. I did such a surprisingly good job the previous year (6:03 average pace per mile) that I was worried that I wouldn't be able to improve on that time.

I'm pleased with the results, but I'm slightly disappointed because I think I could have run this smarter and faster. Still, 4th place overall, 2nd in my age group (30-39), out of a couple of hundred runners, and an average pace of 5 minutes 55 seconds a mile is very good for me and is a new personal record for this distance of 10 km (6.21 miles). My time was 36 minutes 46 seconds.

I'm disappointed because I started off too fast which forced me to slow down later on as my legs were getting burned up and my breathing was labored. The first mile had some downhill in it, but not enough to justify 5 minutes 33 seconds! My 2nd and 3rd miles were at about 6 minutes each. I was at 17 minutes 35 seconds for the 3 mile mark, which is the fastest I've ever run 3 miles in my life, yet, if I had run more evenly paced, I think I could've done better.

It was good seeing friends there. Jennifer pushed Claire in the jogging stroller and ran the entire 5 km race (3.1 miles). I'm proud of her! Our friend Elise, from Sacramento, stayed the night last night and ran with Jennifer. Our friend Cathy was supposed to come along also, but had injured her back (doing yardwork) a short while ago. It was good to see George Miller volunteering and Julie Mell (5K) and Peggy Ruse (10K) and Jackie Nueman (10K) and Eric (10K) and Paul (10K) and Denis (10K, pushing baby jogger).

Update: official results
time: 36:46, pace: 5:55. 4th place of 165 runners