Racing a 10K This Weekend!

It's "Get in Gear 10K" season! Time for a gut-busting 10K this weekend. Ugh... I really don't like this distance!

I'm obviously coming off a high from my 5 mile PR at the "Spirit of White Bear Lake 5 Miler" three weeks ago, but I'm trying to temper my expectations for this weekend's 10K. It will be different for 3 reasons:

• This 10K is a bigger race. It was great going out in 2nd place and just keeping the leader in my sights at the 5 miler, but this has a much deeper field, and it might be hard to "run my own race" when there will be SO many people in front of me that I'll (subconsciously) want to catch.

• This is NOT a flat race. The 5 mile race was quite flat. This upcoming 10K isn't HILLY, but it has its challenges. Here's last year's Garmin map (race is clockwise from lower left), and I added GREEN for downhill sections and RED for uphill sections:

The short red sections up to the bridges are steep but short, and
the real noticable hill is the UP then DOWN on the hairpin to the east.

• I ran that 5 mile just about PERFECTLY. I started easy, but not TOO easy. As I explained in a follow-up post after the race, my first mile was 5:57, and then I ran the final 4 averaging under 5:41/mile pace. At the 2022 Get in Gear 10K, I went out a little harder, but then I PAID for it by slowly dying over the final few miles... and it's not like I "suffered" my way to a good finishing time - I was well off where I hoped to finish.


SO MY GOALS FOR THIS WEEKEND?................

Like at the 5 miler, there's a CHANCE to PR. So I'm not ruling that out. I feel great just being able to say that as a 43-year-old. (My "honest" PR is from 15 years ago at 36:46, my fastest Get In Gear was 12 years ago in 36:47, and I ran the 2018 Minneapolis Halloween 10K in 36:30 as a course that measured about 6.1 miles [SHOULD have been more like just under 37:00 as my 2nd faster 10K].)

But (and this is a big BBUUUTTTTTTT), can I run 2 perfect races just 3 weeks apart? That doesn't tend to happen for me. Will the weather be as perfect this weekend as it was 3 weeks ago? Doubtful. (This race has a history of being cold and wet.) Can I keep it at the PERFECT pace for the first 1.5 miles to give myself a chance at a good time without risking blowing up? These are the unanswerable questions right now.

I want to find the right (easy-ish) pace to start, work up the hills letting up the effort a LITTLE, and then really suffer on the St. Paul side of the river to see if I can lay down a good negative split and a fast finish! We'll see what the day (and my legs) holds! Stay tuned!!