NYRR Scotland 10K Race Report

Another great morning for running. 42 degrees and Sunny.

We cut it kind of close this morning. Parking took longer than expected. Got our race numbers and didn't make it to the corrals until the were already compressing them and the National Anthem was being sung.
This was a busy race. I knew as soon as I saw my number 2112 (how cool is that?). That meant that I'd be in the 3rd corral today. Seeing how our warmup was the jog from the car to the number pickup, I had lowered my expectations somewhat for the start of this race.
As it turned out, my lowered expectations didn't matter much. I felt like I was running with the crowd for over a mile. It wasn't awful tho'. First mile was a 7:46. (I wore my watch this week). After that there was room to move, so mile 2 was 7:35, mile 3 7:36. Then we got to the hills, they slowed me down to a 7:46 for mile 4. I was feeling alright. I had some people around me that were having issues. It's funny how hearing someone suffer can make the course feel harder to you. I had to get away from those people.
I think the final 2 miles is largely downhill. Again, I'm feeling that I'm losing ground in these sections. I'm sure some speed workouts would fix this problem. My pace for mile 5 and 6 was 7:31. Slightly faster but as I've said. I feel like I'm missing the free speed from gravity.
Once again, no big push to the finish. I feel like I ran the event in Zone 4 HR. Solid Effort but no suffering really.
My finish time was 47:33 or a 7:41 pace. I had 7:35 in mind. Not too bad, seeing how this is my 3rd race in 3 weeks. Also the 2 hour run, each of the last 2 weeks have been tough. I've got some work ahead of me in terms of getting back into peak shape.

Which got me thinking. What has been my best 10K time? Oddly enough my best 15K pace (7:23) is much faster than my 10K best pace in a run only event (7:36). Both Central Park Full Loop Runs. But I actually ran a 7:28 pace for the 10K at the end of the DC Dextro Energy Olympic Distance Triathlon back in 2009. Go figure. I guess I need to set a goal of running a hard 10K some time when I'm in good shape. Should be an easy PR.

Time to go swim 4500m...