BAA 10K

  
Waking up to 66degree temperatures on Sunday, I thought it would be perfect running weather.  Until I stepped outside and realized it was still quite warm and very humid.  Not quite perfect, but I've run in alot worse ;) Nonetheless my nerves woke me up before my alarm and before I knew it, it was go time!

Image source

Given the events of the past nine months, I was nervous.  It's been a long road to feeling good out there running again, and I didn't want to do anything stupid in the face of a race clock :)  Add in the fact that I hadn't solidified a nutrition plan and I was using this race to test the waters for my big goal of this season (an Olympic distance triathlon), and let's just say I had some butterflies.

The BAA 10K started and finished in Boston Common, taking us through Back Bay out towards BU and back.  The staggered start for the 3,000 runners seemed to work well, as I never felt like the course was too crowded.  There were 3 rolling hills over the course, nothing too steep or long.

Somewhere around mile 1

Long story short, I couldn't be happier with how I did, finishing in 49:48.  I managed to stay around a 7:30-8:30 pace the entire race, instead of going out too fast like I usually do.  I picked out a guy ahead of me in a Hartford Marathon shirt that I stayed with the first half of the race, thought about achieving my goal, focused on form, and then picked out someone else to keep pace with the second half of the race when I lost Hartford Marathon guy.  Mile 4 was the worst for me, I grabbed water at the stop and threw it over my head, but the finish line seemed more than two miles away.  Back around the Common I was finally able to kick it, and whaddya know, there's now a race picture with both feet off the ground!

Speedy!!

A successful race to cap of the end of my first three decades ;)  Now I just need to figure out how to keep this pace off a 26mile bike ride!!