USA 10-Miler Race Report

Perhaps the fact that I forgot to register for this race — combined with the fact that I also forgot to pick up my chip, leading to a mad sprint over to the chip table while the national anthem was being played moments before the race began — were a sign. Maybe I wasn’t meant to run this race.

But I did. It did not go well, but I did it. I finished in 2:02:34, for an average of 12:15 per mile.

I’m not that upset. I’d be bothered if I felt my slow time was due to some kind of injury or being ill-prepared, but mainly I feel like I just had a bad day. After all, three weeks ago I ran 10 miles in 1:54 — with the same average heart rate as today. Three weeks ago I ran 8 minutes faster at the same level of exertion.

Today, I never felt out of breath. My legs never felt unusually tired. The weather was pleasant and I was never overheated. Everything felt like it was operating normally, except I was just tired.

From the moment the gun went off, I just felt tired. Nothing specific, but an overall fatigue.

I’ve felt tired since Wednesday, when I had to get up so early. I got at least 8 hours of sleep on on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights so I assumed I was caught up, but maybe not. I thought I was very well-hydrated, but maybe not.

Whatever the case, I just felt tired. The whole time.

Oh well. I got in the distance. Time to regroup for the Houston Half in two weeks and hopefully I can improve my pace a little there!

It was great to see all my running buddies out there, including many that I haven’t seen in months! As Steeeve commented on the previous post, it’s funny to realize that we all interact online but don’t often see each other in the “real world” due to various schedules, committments, and living in different parts of town. Seeing everybody and getting to chat made my crappy run seem like a blip on the radar screen.