Name: Let's Go 10K
Date: March 5, 2011
Distance: 10K (6.2 miles)
Location: Bedford, Indiana
Course: Gradually downhill on the way out, gradually uphill on the way back (Click here to view course.)
Time: 56:36
Pace: 9:08
Place: 31 of 57
Division: 9 of 29
Results Link: Click here.
Weather: 52°, rain
Notes: The week before this race, I ran the entire course as part of a training run for two reasons. First, the last time I had run the course (the 2010 Let's Go 10K), I had a bad experience and ended up in the hospital. I wanted to have a *good* run on that route before I raced it again. Second, there's a hill on this course (that is, in fact, on many local race courses), that gets into my head. I wanted to feel successful on it. I managed to do both of those things. Race day came with lots of rain, but the temp. was in the 50°s, so it wasn't too cold while running. I felt fantastic for the first half of the race. However, the second half was hard. It included the dreaded hill and an unexpected hitch in my knee. I found that concentrating on my form made my knee feel better. I picked up the pace again on the last mile. A couple of friends cheered for me from their porch near the finish (they did so at the start, as well), which gave me a lot of motivation to get to the finish line, where Mom and Ed were waiting for me. Surprisingly, I wound up with a 27-second PR. My splits were 8:41/9:04/9:13/9:28/9:30/9:11/1:29, and my two 5Ks were 28:17/28:19. I'd like to get my mile splits a little more consistent. Not going so fast on the first mile is likely the key there. Dad finished in 1:32:16, and the Schofield kids continued to impress with their running skills. Great day!
Photos: 15 — See below.