Leprechaun Chase 10k

On March 15th I participated in the Leprechaun Chase 10k with three other friends.  The big issue here for me was the 10k.  I had NEVER ran a 10k before and was super nervous about pacing myself so I could finish.

It wasn't too warm-I think in the range of 35 to 40 degrees, windy, and a little overcast.  We dressed all in the green and Heidi picked up some fun St. Patrick's Day goodies for us to wear.  The premise of the race is to give the ladies a 5 minute head start and then the guys get to start and whoever comes in first, that gender all received a free drink at the after party.  I hadn't even reached the 1-mile mark before the first guy passed me.

And we are off! 

Going into this race I set my goal at an 11 minute mile pace.   I just didn't know how I would do come mile 4,5,6 so I wanted to not push it too hard so I would finish without walking.  Well as we were running my program kept telling me my pace was coming in around 9:30 minutes/mile.  I guess the adrenaline of the race got me going ahead of pace.  I told Heidi at Mile 4 I was going to walk and slow down but Mile 4 came and went and I kept on running.  Finally, right around 4.5 miles I told Heidi I was going to slow down-thinking I would walk a bit but I didn't-I slowed down but never walked.  At the end of the race I came in at 10 minutes 4 seconds a mile-well below my goal.  My final time came in at 1:02:33.  5.5 minutes below my goal time of 68 minutes.  I was pleased.

These pictures were thanks to the race organizers.  The posted tons of pictures for us to download and share as we would like. 

After the race we stayed downtown for a little bit grabbed a few drinks and some yummy food.  It was a fun morning/afternoon with some friends!  I am so thankful for my little group of friends.

I did it!