Zillah 10K

I haven’t posted the results yet cause our “darn internets” (as Thomas would say in his grandpa voice) haven’t been working so well. So here are the results from this weekends 10K.. 52:40 and second in the 19-29 year old female age group (we weren’t a very big group I guess ). I’m very happy with how it went. Here is how it all played out:


Thomas and I met my parents at the Costco parking lot at 7am to carpool to Zillah.

My cute padres walking their first race together.

Arrived at around 7:30am and got our race numbers and t-shirts. Thomas’ remark about the shirts was that a girl must have designed them since they are light blue and bright pink. I agree, they aren’t very manly. After registering we sat in the car for a few minutes because it was pretty cold outside, I’d say in the 40’s. Then of course I had to run to the bathroom for my pre-race ritual. Probably TMI but on race day I have to go on average about five times. As my wise running buddy Haley would say “your body just knows that it’s race day.” And I guess it’s trying to help me out by getting everything out before the race rather than during. Anyways… Thomas and I then jogged a bit to warm up and waited for the race to start.

Staying warm before the race.

I was a little nervous that it was going to start way late like the one in February that we did, because there were so many day of race registers. But we started just a few minutes late.

Mom, Dad, and Thomas all did the 5K and although we all started at the same time we went separate ways once the gun went off. I told myself from the very beginning to go out SLOW! I was really holding myself back but I looked down at Garmin and he tells me I’m still going 8:30 pace. I was wanting to go out around 9:00 pace. But I couldn’t hold myself back anymore than that. At about mile 2.5 I saw my padres and got a little encouragement from them. There were a few people in front of me that I was keeping my eyes on so when the time came I could start reeling them in. Mile three was when I decided to kick it up a notch and start going after people. The first person was a guy in his late 20’s who was going at a really steady pace. Reeled him in. Then there was another guy in his mid to late 20’s, reeled him in. And then at about mile five I caught this twelve year old boy. He was a good one to stick with. I could tell he didn’t want to get passed but after about a half mile he drifted back. From about mile 3.5 there was a girl in her 20’s who would come up to my side for a minute and then drift behind me for awhile. Then finally at mile five she came right up next to me and we both picked the pace up for the last mile. When we turned the corner and there was .2 miles left I really put it in to high gear. But with 200 meters left I thought I was going to puke and pass out. So for a second I slowed down. But then my race friend turned to me and was like “Come on!” So I dug a little deeper and sprinted till my legs were numb to the finish. I finished right in front of her, I feel kind of bad cause if it wasn’t for her I would have been probably like 10 seconds behind.

Getting our little strips torn off.  The girl in the black shirt and red shorts is my new friend.

Telling my friend thank you

This is what’s so great about running. In no other sport would your competition be encouraging you and pushing you to do your best. But in running, especially distance, there are people all around you encouraging you and cheering you on. I love it! And as I was leaning over trying to catch my breath, my race friend comes over with a cup of water for me!! How sweet is that?! I totally want to find out who she is and get in touch with her so we can hopefully run together again.

So here is the play by play of the 10K:

Mile 1: 8:29

Mile 2: 8:44

Mile 3: 9:16 (The most hilly part of the run. But didn’t bother me like most hills do).

Mile 4: 8:33

Mile 5: 8:21

Mile 6: 8:03

I’m really happy about how I ran. I ran how I had planned to, controlled at the beginning and then letting it all out at the end. Now that the 10K is over I’ve started half marathon training again. Woo hoo! Can’t wait till June. I’m excited about this program I’m training with. It’s another from Runners World plan.