My goal was to break 45 minutes which would be about 4 minutes faster than I ran it in 2007.? Using the McMillan Running Calculator? I plugged in my time from the 5K I ran two weeks earlier to see what pace it would suggest for me to run the 10K.? Lo and behold out pops 44:05 at a swift 7:05/mile pace!? What the heck … I cant run that fast!? Thats nearly a minute a mile faster than I ran it last year; even after coming off of a personal best in the 5K I was still unsure that I could break into the 44's.? The McMillan website has been good to me in the past offering suggested training paces for all types of workouts and projects peak performance at given distances.? I decided to split the difference at 44:30 and make that my goal at a pace of 7:09/mile.Conditions were perfect for an early season road race: overcast, cool and dry.? I had a mini taper going on that week since I had been traveling for work and did not have much time to get any workouts in.? I warmed up around downtown, stretched, handed over a layer of clothing and headed out to the start line.? I decided to find a place pretty close to the front to avoid the traffic jam with people crowding the narrow timing mats.? The first mile of these races is more about traffic management than actual racing but I quickly found a clear route on the outside and settled into my groove.? The first few quarter miles clicked off at 7:10/mile pace which felt a little slow, but I wanted to stick to my game plan and hold a steady pace.

As the marker for mile 1 came into view, I noticed that my watch was still in the 6's!? Not by much, but enough that I would put in a 7:14 for the first one of the race.? Not bad, it still felt like I could pick up the pace, but I held strong knowing its always easier to negative split the race and run the second half faster than go out too fast and run out of gas.? The hill that takes you from Broadway up to Baxter Avenue followed shortly and was enough to get my heart rate up into the 180's for the first time in the day.? This was OK because I actually run hills pretty well and I picked my cadence and got up on my toes to really fly past a bunch of people.? As I crested the top I snagged a drink at the water stop and enjoyed a few sloshing gulps before getting back into my groove.? It was about this point in the race where I had brought my average lap time down to a 7:08/mile pace, a smidge better than my goal time.? I looked around for people running about the same pace as me and tried to form a silent partnership with a few people who would stick with me to the end, pushing me along to the finish, not letting me back off of my target time.? I noticed a younger girl and a teenage guy who had been around for the past few minutes.? We gave each other a slight recognition in the form of a head nod and a grunt that we would pace each other.

I noticed my pace starting to pick up on my quater mile pace splits, 7:07, 7:03, 6:58 … I was cracking into the six minute miles!? I was putting out some serious effort to keep this pace going with my new found teammates, but it was sustainable.? I checked my heart rate monitor … 185, about 97% of my max, I still felt I had the legs to get there, so I hung on to the pack.? We hit the halfway point 22:00 for my 5K … 13 seconds faster than 2 weeks ago … and I still had another 5K to go!? It was awesome that I went out so fast, but at the same time a bit scary because I had to actually pick the pace up a bit if I wanted to negative split the race.? Going for 44:30 was no longer my goal.? Realizing that I signed on with 2 people who would run sub 7 minute miles the rest of the race, I could crack into the 42's.

The next few quarter mile splits came back on an even faster and faster pace 6:50,? 6:46, 6:39.? At the same time though, the fatigue was getting to me.? It was with about 1.5 miles left to go that I had an eat your Wheaties moment.? One of the greatest feelings of accomplishment that I get out of racing in endurance events, is when you reach that point where your body begins to talk of a mutiny.? Your body has had enough and its planning to walk out on strike and shut down on you.? Using your mind to convince your body to keep going is the true skill that lies within a endurance athlete.? The mental toughness is so much more desirable of a characteristic that I strive for in my training.? It was at this point in the race with barely 10 minutes to go that I had to decide to kick in the extra gear and get my moneys worth out of this race.? For the first time I dropped the two runners who had been so good pulling me along for the last 30 minutes.? I felt I needed to return the favor for everyone and surge ahead to stoke the fire.? It worked and I ripped out a 6:38 mile with just a couple of blocks left to the finish.? At this point the pack surged ahead and would leave me for the day, but I did what I needed to do to secure my personal victory.

I would finish 4 tantalizing seconds away from breaking into the 42s, but at 43:04 I was a minute and a half faster than my goal and over six minutes faster than the 2007 race.? Yet another PR that fell today by quite a hefty margin. Alot of people told me that endurance training is a multi-year adventure before you really start to see what your body is capable of. I have only been building on the aerobic engine block since late 2006, but I continue to be amazed what why my body can do if I train it well. Running has always been a drain on my confidence, but with the results from the last two runs and the dramatic fashion in which I destroyed my previous personal bests, this is no longer the case. If I can keep these types of performances up, then challenging for podium spots at triathlons is a more realistic possibility.

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