Missed my goal (58:00) by a little bit, but it started me racing again. More to come...I need a nap.
Well rested and fed, I've had time to reflect on this race. Overall, I'm satisfied. I gave myself plenty of reasons to 'fail' in this race: it's an injury recovery race, training has been inconsistent with low mileage, I've got a sinus infection, I'll run the first 5k then just finish the rest, etc. There were points during the race I think I used each of these.
This race had almost 9500 registered for the 10k. Only 7865 completed it. It is definitely the biggest race I've done so far. I started about middle of the pack and didn't worry at all about trying to get around people. I was very relaxed through about 2.75mi then the legs started getting tired. I think I hit the halfway point at 26:00 or so. From there, I didn't worry about walking once in a while. I can't say I gave it 100%, more like 85% maybe.
There was a sea of runners through the whole race. Had I been shooting for a fast time, I would have been incredibly frustrated with the pace and not being able to get around people for much of the race. The race was very well done and I would run it again. The Highmark runners did great and it was fun to see so many employees there.
I was successful in not overdoing it, trying to go too fast, and didn't reinjure, so now it's time to get back to some serious, consistent training.
Update: I think this is definitely a PR course based on the elevation map and good weather. I'm assuming since this has a negative elevation that this is considered an "aided" course?
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