Chattahoochee Challenge 10K Race Report

Ahh....I love being done with races.

Do I love racing them? Sometimes.
Do I love training for them? Most of the time.
Do I love the morning of races? Absolutely not.

This was my first race of 2010. And in my strange quest to constantly beat myself, there was some extra pressure. I was fighting off nerves all week....for a 10k! Sheesh. This morning was full of "my chest hurts, bronchitis for sure", "my stomach hurts, ow."...etc, etc, etc.

Goal? Beat 44:18. My time from last year on this same course.

This race could not be easier for me to get to, or more comfortable. I train on these roads all the time. Flat and fast. Only if they could actually make it 6.2, instead of 6.29 miles (that extra .09 really makes a HUGE difference if say, you might be dry heaving since you kicked too early....not sayin' that I did that, doesn't sound like me at all.) ;)

Warm up with Jill and Andrea. So nice to have friendly faces at races. (Congrats to both of them for PR's and 2 and 3 in their AG!)

And.....(insert nervous girl talk about the increasing hotness of Michael Vartan and waning hotness of Bradley Cooper)...GO!

Miles 1-4, my goal was to stay around 7:00. Just maintain, don't be dumb and go out too hard. I love you, Garmin. I would have totally messed this up without the constant reminder to slow the eff down. I knew I would regret it later if I pushed too early.

Mile 1 - 7:03
Mile 2 - 6:52 (whoops)
Mile 3 - 6:58
Mile 4 - 7:04 (ow)

I was trying to fool myself into thinking that the real race started at mile 5. The first 4 miles were just a warm up. Get to 5. Get to 5. Get to 5 and then GO! Well, getting to 5 and GOING really just meant, getting to 5 and maintaining. Totally fine. I pushed as hard as I could until the dry heaves came. (They always come.) Then done!

Mile 5 - 6:57
Mile 6 - 6:57

43:50/Avg. pace 6:59
10th OA/1st AG


32 year old me was taken down. Slow whippersnapper.

Jill, Andrea and I took home some sweet necklaces.