This weekend I ran the TC10K for the second time. Last year was the first time after completing my first running clinic with Frontrunners. At that point I had worked up to running 10 mins walking 1 min. This year was a very different experience for me. I have been running pretty consistently now for over a year now. I don’t think it really matters how long you have been running, I think you always learn something from every race you do. Last year I remember how happy I was that I had ran a pace of 6.41 which gave me a time of 1:06:48, this was way better than I thought I was going to do. This year I had goals of hitting 57:00:00, this was my fastest 10k to date from when I ran the VIRA series but with my training being hit and miss this year with my hip issues I wasn’t sure what to expect, especially considering I was home putting ice on my glutes the night before from over doing it earlier in the day. I ended up finishing with a 56:02:00, 10 minutes faster than last year and a personal best for a 10k race.
My daughter Taylor was running the TC10k as well and before the race I reminded her to not to go out too fast. She hasn’t been able to train much for the race and I wanted her to enjoy the run, so if that means walking at times, go for it! After the words left my mouth, I laughed at myself inside. That inside voice was telling me that I needed to take my own advice. Usually my races are like a roller coaster, I go out way to fast, then slow down too much then realize it and then pick it up again. It’s a frustrating way to run but I think a lot of us do it.
As the race started I made sure to keep an eye on my watch to make sure I wasn’t going out to fast, less than km into the run I was running 5:45min which is about where I wanted to be, with an overall goal of running 5:30mins/km, I knew I needed to be a bit slower than I can build up. With over 9500 runners in this event, it wasn’t hard to maintain a slower pace at first. I spent almost the entire race weaving in and out of people, I don’t remember it being so congested last year or maybe that’s because I am further up in the coral now it’s more congested. The congestion did help me or forced me to not go out too fast, as I started up Johnston street I started to get into my pace and I was doing 5:30min/km consistently by the time we turned on to Vancouver street.
I absolutely loved this race. My 5km split was 28:16 minutes so with an overall finish time of 56:02:00 I finally had a good, level race with a slight negative split for the second half. It felt amazing to be so calm in my mind and not feeling all over the place. I was super pleased my glutes held out for me, I truly had the best run yet for me I think. There is nothing better than that feeling after a race; it’s such an addictive feeling.
I was hoping to see some of the Weight Watchers people finish but it was so congested and crazy crowded that we decided to head to our hotel for swim and a light work out to stretch out my legs. I hope everyone else had a good run.
