Surf N Santa 10 miler

Physically I was coming into this race a bit out of shape.  I hadn't run since the 5k turkey trot race, which by the way I completed in 17:10 on a rolling course.  I'm thinking turkey trots should be renamed to T-Giving-Trots, since not everyone eats turkey and Thanksgiving should not be about eating a bird. But I digress..  I took a break on my healthy nutrition over that holiday. But I did a 90 mile bike ride last Sunday that put all that food to work.  And I'm still dealing with a knee injury, which comes and goes.

The race took place on my home turf here in Virginia Beach on an ideal sunny morning with 3,000 others.  I did not have big expectations for myself, but definitely wanted to finish in one hour.  I started out the first mile with the leaders going at a 5:30 min/mile then realized I needed to slow down, so took it to a 5:50 min/pace. I basically held this pace until I hit the boardwalk at mile 6.  The wind was blowing strong! We had about 3 miles to run straight against the wind and I struggled to hold a 6:15 pace during that time.  Luckily my one hour goal was still in reach due to my running the first 6 miles in just under 36 minutes so I had a bit of a buffer built in.  If I could do it over I would have tried to stay with the group ahead of me so I had someone to run behind in that wind.  As it was, I was running solo against the wind and lost a good 45 seconds over those and crossed the finish line in 10th place in 1:00:23.  Ahh I would have really liked to break one hour! Damn that wind, or was it my lack of training.  I'm pleased with one hour though, afterall it was my goal.  Racing is never about beating others, but always about pushing your personal limits.

That was my last race of the year.  I need to take time off from running and maybe even cycling to heal this knee.  Yes I will go a bit stir crazy, but maybe this will give me more time to work on my swim.  Not to mention I am applying to like 7 grad schools which requires a lot of time.  Then hopefully I will look at a race schedule for 2012 and try to get new sponsorships.

Race Pictures to come, stay tuned.