A New PR!

This morning I went into town to run the Kapiolani Women's 10K. Like you might guess from the name of the race, it's a women's only event. This was my first year participating... I was planning on doing it last year but then found out I was pregnant about a week before so I skipped it. I'm sure I could have done it last year (pregnant and all) but I wanted to run it hard and set a new PR and of course that's not the best idea when you're growing a little baby.

So I missed my shot last year, but made up for it this year! I knew I was ready for a PR, though not sure what exactly it would be. I felt confident I could run a 46-something but wasn't sure today was the day... The wind was (is) howling, and this course goes up and over Diamond Head on the way out and back so it's not the fastest course in the world. I figured 47-something today would be good.

There were 2000+ women at the event this morning. It was cool and motivating to see so many women out there! I lined up near the front spotted Moana's pediatrician right there next to me... She's a Bad A$$, which is why I picked her to be Moana's doctor.

The canon went off and Dr Bad A$$ took off like a rocket. I held back a little more, knowing that we had a decent hill right off the bat and thinking that being conservative here would pay off later.

By mile 2 I was in a pack of about 10 gals cruising along at a good clip (7:20's). This was really cool to me. I've never before been fast enough to run in a pack like this. But it felt great to be a part of it. I was really happy to be there and felt fine. I don't remember actually thinking about anything... just running. Blank mind. It was also smart strategy to run with a pack at this point because the headwind was really strong over the first 1/2 of the course.

Dr. Bad A$$ was coming back to us... our pack caught her before eventually splitting up around mile 3. It just kind of strung out while some gals picked it up and others fell off. I was still kind of there right in the middle of it all, but just ahead of Dr Bad A$$.

Back up and over Diamond Head... checked the garmin and saw that at 5 miles I was 37 flat, which is a whole minute faster than I ran that 8K a few weeks ago. Nice. I felt confident that I was going to get my 46... shoot, if I hurried, maybe 45 high? That would be amazing! In fact, my garmin said I hit 6.2 miles at 45:56 but the actual race finish was still a few meters away... 46:03 official time. Holy cow! I was really psyched about that. It was definitely faster than I thought I could go on that course and in that wind.

Dr Bad A$$ finished a few seconds behind me and hugged me at the end... telling me she was trying to catch me because she thought that anyone who just had a baby 4 months ago shouldn't be beating her... pretty funny. :) What's ironic about that is that had I not had a baby 4 months ago, I might not have been even running near her. I've definitely got that post-partum miracle thing going on where I'm running faster than ever before. Had I known how good it would be, I would have had a baby years ago! ;)

Anyway, isn't it funny how no matter how fast you go, you're just never satisfied? Because while I'm trilled about today, I'm absolutely convinced that I can run quite a bit faster. Give me a flat course with less wind and I think I can get under 45. I'm gonna give it a shot in about 5 weeks at a different 10K...