Short and Sweet: New Haven 10K Race Report

I ran a race on Saturday.

It was a 10K.

In New Haven, Indiana.

There were 272 participants. Some of them were my friends.

Some of those friends had run 9 miles before the race (because they are marathon training) and were going to take it slow.

I lined up with them.

My goal was to start out with a 10-minute mile and slowly drop down from there, logging negative splits. If it was a good day, I would run sub-60.

My first mile was 9:42.

So much for the first idea.

But running a 9:42 was fun. And if you are having fun while running a race, you should toss up some jazz hands.

So I did that.

And I kept cruising. Gunning for my negative splits. 9:37. 9:20.

Oops. I wasn't supposed to run a 9:20 this race, especially not for mile 3. The race is going to get tough from here on out, I thought to myself.

I was right. It did.

I walked through a water stop and it was hard to resume running. But I saw people, like my friends who had ran 9 miles before, and I thought I'd catch up to, well, catch up.

So I did. It was nice. And then I wasn't so nice anymore, passing them to try to pick it up. Because I didn't want to completely punk out just because my negative split race was out.

9:48, 9:38

Somewhere around mile 5, I realized that if I could hold my shit together that I might be able to go sub-60. It would be close but possible.

Time to pick it up.

I promise I was picking it up. I also promise I have two legs. I cannot confirm or deny whether my thighs eat shorts.

But at least my sock(s) look good.

Also, I did manage to eke out a good mile – 9:28 for 6 and an 8:52 average for the homestretch.

Oh, hey! Two legs!

I could let you do the math – time to brush up for back to school – to see whether I got my sub-hour 10K.

Waiting.

Waiting.

Waiting.

Yep, I think math is overrated, too. I finished in 59:40, which was good enough for me ... but not for awards or placing. Them peoples be fast. Seriously, I was 197 out of 272.

But I finished in less than an hour and got to go home and take a bath in an empty house. #winning