Short and Sweet version: Broke my time goal, so now I have a new PR to break. 1st in AG. No asthma problems. Took a hit off the inhaler an hour prior to start, 2 more 10 minutes prior. I had to take a couple right afterward, because I did have the tightness and coughing, but it's nothing like it has been lately. So WooT for that too!

A very local 10k with race start less than 3 miles from my house. Left the house with 29 minutes to go to race start. Got my bib # with 24 minutes to go. Got in just over a mile warmup and a good stretch. I was raring to go.

My goal for today has been what it always has been for all standalone 10k's for the past 18 months or so. Break 50:00. I managed to get 50:00 flat on a course almost two years ago, and had never done nearly as well since. But I knew I did it during my marathon, and since then, I've really been working on my running. I figured I'd have a shot today. My most recent standalone 10k was in May, and I'd clocked a disapointing 54-something, so I was ready to give this course some ****.

This is the second year for this course, but it's the 4th time I've done this race, whose proceeds go toward a scholarship fund. It's definitely a smaller race, with most participants choosing the 5k option. But the 10k competition is usually pretty tough. This course is tougher than the old one. I think my time last year was 53-something. Some challenging hills, and many turns makes it hard to get into a nice even rhythm.

At the sound of the gun, we took off, welcoming the nice breeze and 59 degree temps. I had a mini goal to keep my competiton in my sights the whole time. Ms. Embry is a very fast 40-something. I thought today's race was usually done in 10-year age groups, so I knew I couldn't beat her, but I wanted to come as close as I could, and take 2nd. This other woman in my AG took off and kept right up with Embry, as I tagged along as best I could. We went through the first mile with the mile person calling out 7:17 for Embry and friend, and then 7:23 for me. At first she said, "6:23!" I said, "Nope!" She said "oops 7:23!" I said, "Yup". We went on like this through the 2nd mile 15:09.

Lo and behold "friend" started dropping off the pace. Just after mile 3--23:11 I passed friend. WooT! But then friend passed me back. We kept up this game of tag until just after mile 4--31:09, when I passed friend, and she just said, "have a good race." I didn't see or hear her again until right before the end. Mile 4 to mile 5.5 is difficult with many turns and a couple decent hills, I lost sight of Embry for good during this stretch. I knew when I came up to the 2nd to last turn it was literally downhill from there to the finish. I tried to kick it up as much as possible, and I heard friend behind me who had found it in her to dig deep. I dug just a little deeper though.

I knew I had my goal beat but good, as I got my first glimpse at the finish clock and it read 48:55. I gave it my best shot to finish under 49, but just missed it, with a 49:00. WooT! Friend finished at 49:09, and thanked me for keeping her in the game.I thanked her too, because she made it interesting and even more challenging, for sure.

I was surprised when the awards were in 5 year increments. The overall female winner was a young whippet in the 18-under category with a 42:38. I took first in my AG, "friend" took 2nd. Found out her last name is Palmer. Embry of course, took first place in 45-49 with a 47:01.

Palmer, Embry and Rozich all did a mile cooldown together along with Palmer's husband and Embry's son who took 3rd place in the under 18 male 5k with an 18:43. A fun race on a beautiful morning, and a lil' old gold medal. Can't ask for much more now can you? Afterward, I did another mile on my own for a total of 9.2 for the day, and then got out on my bike for 12 short, fast miles.

http://This message has been edited by CCRoz (edited Jul-21-2007).