It had been three years since the last time I ran in this race but I was hopeful that I would be able to run it in under 48 minutes -- the time needed to qualify for Group A of the Peachtree Road Race.
Unlike past years, this time I followed my half-marathon training and did a warm-up run prior to the race start.
The start of the race was probably the fastest that I've run in a while -- 7:08 minutes -- but I didn't feel like I was exerting myself too much.
I wanted to make sure that throughout the race I was running at a pace between 7:30 and 7:40/mile -- pretty much where I wanted to be if I wanted to qualify.
The first two miles were in that range, and so were the next two. I knew it could be a possibility I could come close to my PR of 46:29 but I kept telling myself that I was here to qualify and not here for a PR.
The last mile came and while I knew there were two hills on the last stretch, I didn't realize one of them was pretty soon after you turned into the neighborhood.
The second one I worked on. Thankfully I was behind two guys who had a decent pace to the finish.
I finished in 46:49, which was 20 seconds off my PR from the 2011 race but not even a time I was expecting considering that just a month ago I struggled at the end of the MLK Day Drum line 5K.
I definitely credit the half-marathon training -- the last four weeks I've run more than 44 miles a week. I think if I were training solely for a 10K I would have done more speed work.
But I'm extremely happy to not have to worry about qualifying for the Peachtree for another 3 years. :)
Time: 7:48 a.m.
Temp: 39 degrees
Gear: Technical T-shirt, long (Big Peach 5 Miler), T-shirt (Race for Research), shorts, Nike Air Pegasus+ 30/A.
2 comments:
Congratulations on your great time! I enjoy reading your blog, and find your streak and your regular postings to be inspiring. I'm a new runner and my time was in the 55 minute zone, which was quite good for me.
Thanks!
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