Easter Sun Run 2009

Above are my most of my friends who ran in the event as well. Left to right is Kevin, me, Shane, Jennifer, Janel, Jason, and Alan. Jennifer and Janel both set PR's in the 2 mile race. Nathan who is not pictured won the Male 25-29 age class with a 34:52 10K time.

The Easter Sun Run was only my second race, and I thought it was awesome. Well organized, live music, BBQ, and over 2000 people. There was 10K and 2 mile race, I ran in the 10K.

My goal for the race was to finish in 50 minutes which was just over an 8 minute/mile pace. The race had kilometer splits, which means they called your time out as you passed each kilometer. My kilometer splits needed to be 4:57/km. The crowd was huge and it took me over a mile to get out of the crowd, I was passing people constantly knowing that if I stayed in the crowd I would be behind on my splits right from the beginning. I was hitting my split times and actually a few seconds faster up until the 5K mark. Right after the 5K mark I gassed, I had nothing left. I will get into that more in depth later. I got to the 9K mark and for the first time ever I thought I was going to puke from Running (not even Coach Krafts' Vomit Comet from 8th grade football could get me that close). I didn't, so I picked up the pace and made a decent kick to the finish line for what I had left. I finished in 52:18, which was just over 2 minutes off of my goal. I'm not upset, however I do feel I'm a better runner than what I showed on this day.

Why did I gas so early? (these are not EXCUSES, but experience gained and mistakes not to be duplicated)
1.) I was not ready to race a 10K yet. This race was only the 3rd time I had ever run that distance.
2.) I was overdressed. I'm a hunter and always check the feels like temperature, since that factors in wind, and in hunting you are pretty still. I was wearing a fleece jacket, which was too warm for this race. I finally shed it about half-way through the race. I would've earlier but the rules state that my number should be visible from the front at all times. I had to stop and transfer my number from my jacket to shirt.
3.) 99.9% of my runs are in the late afternoon or early evening. By that time I have eaten a few times already and have taken in a nearly 2000 calories. All races are in the morning, this morning I had only eaten 2 slices of bread and a 210 calorie protein bar.

What will I do differently?
1.) I will be more familiar with a distance before I attempt a race of that distance.
2.) Go with my gut feeling on how to dress instead of my head.
3.) I will either get up earlier before a race so I can eat more food before hand, or start doing more training in the morning with fewer calories eaten before training.
4.) Oh, and yes I did say TRAINING. Up to this point I have only been Running, not training. Starting this week I will begin to incorporate speed work, tempo runs and strength training into my Running schedule.