It’s been my goal since my first Ten Mile race to break 70 minutes. I’ve come close but have never broken 70 minutes. This year I really wanted to break 70 minutes at the Army Ten Miler! I felt good leading up to the race, a bit of hip pain occasionally but nothing too bad. Race day was beautiful running weather — projected high of mid 60s and sunny. Race morning it was high 40s so not too bad of a temperature to wait before the race.
I find the 10 mile distance a hard distance to race. I’ve heard the best 10 milers run at a 10km pace, whereas the slower runners run more at a half marathon pace. I tried to figure out my pacing for the run but still didn’t have a good plan. I’ve gone out too hard and died, and I’ve gone out too slowly and have been unable to make up the deficit. My loose plan was to run at an aggressive pace from the start to get my body used to running a fast and hold it. I planned to go pretty hard the first two miles and then maybe ease off a bit then build the rest of the run.
I took the metro down and met my team in a hotel near the race site. It’s fun to run for a team and I really enjoy the camaraderie that comes with being part of a team. We put on our company shirts and headed to the start area about 7:15/7:30.
I did about 5 minutes of warm up running with 3 short pickups and really felt great. I was ready to break 70 minutes! I lined up in my start wave a bit back but I didn’t think I was too far back. The cannon went off and I was running about 2 minutes later.
The first mile was really congested and hard to run so I tried to weave around the slower runners as best as possible. I felt fine and didn’t feel like I was going too hard but I had no clue what my pace was. I ran through the first mile at 7:03 and was really happy with that because I was on track for sub 70 without feeling like I was pushing much and with having to weave and not be able to really run smoothly. The next mile was still congested and I passed 2 miles at 14.01.
The third mile things started to open up a bit but there was a water stop which I thought really slowed me down. They advertise the Army Ten Miler as a flat race. While it isn’t hilly it definitely isn’t completely flat. One of the gradual uphills is about mile 3 so I tried to push it up there and rest at the downhill. I didn’t even realize I missed the 3 mile marker until I hit mile 4 at 27:40. I was thrilled with that and I still felt great so I thought I really could break 70 minutes! I was still feeling good and contemplated picking up the pace but figured I would just hold that pace until mile 6 and see how I felt.
Mile 5 at 34:33, missed mile 6, and 10km at 42.52. I was happy we didn’t have to do the long out and back by the Capitol and was soon headed back toward the Pentagon. I hit mile 7 and 48:22 and was still holding about the pace. We started running into a headwind so I focused on keeping my turnover. I was passing a lot of runners which definitely is a much better feeling that being passed, which has happened to me in several past 10 mile races! Ran past mile 8 at 55:16 and there was a guy who passed me that I decided to stick with. Across the 14th Street Bridge I just stayed a few steps behind him and he led me across the bridge and past many more runners! Right before 9 miles there was a gradual uphill and I let him get away. Mile 9 at 1:02:06 and I realized I could not only break 70 minutes but also 69! I was pretty tired though and a lot of the runners passed me from mile 9-9.5. At 9.5 I told myself to dig deep and push the last mile. I looked at my watch as I crossed and saw 1.09.01. I knew I might have started it a bit early so didn’t know if I broke 69 minutes or not. I had to brace myself on my legs at the finish and was exhausted, but so happy with my effort. I walked around a bit and stretched and felt ok. After our team lunch I headed home and checked results when they came up and saw I had a 1.08.58! My first sub 70 10 miler!
A Mom and An Athlete 