30th Annual Ed Root Memorial 10K Recap

Hey, everyone!  We are more than halfway through the work week.  We can make it to Friday, y'all!

Today, i wanted to recap this Saturday's race.  I ran the Ed Root Memorial 10K in New Smyrna Beach.  I ran this race last year as my first 10K ever and thoroughly enjoyed it.  When they mailed me the notice of this year's race, I signed up right away.

The course is absolutely beautiful, running along the shoreline, around the boardwalk of Smyrna Dunes Park (where you get an awesome view of the lighthouse), and back.

I set my A-B-C goals for the race, which were as follows:

A: Place in my age group

B: PR at the 10K distance

C: Finish with an average pace of 10:30 or less

My plan to meet these goals was start off slow and increase my pace throughout the race.  My pattern is to start off too fast and not have enough steam to finish strong.  I was planning to rely on my Garmin GPS watch to help me monitor my pace.

Ready to run!

Well, my Garmin decided it wasn't going to pick up the satellite until 0.75 miles into the race!  Since I had nothing to rely on, I just listened to my body and ran at a comfortable warm-up pace.  I was getting passed, so I figured I was going at a slow enough pace.

Once the Garmin came on, I was able to monitor my time and mileage and see that I was at least going to meet my C goal (10:30 or less average pace).  I really enjoyed running on the park's boardwalk and took in all the sights instead of focusing on my running at that point.

When I got off the boardwalk, I knew that I was 2 miles from the end and turned it on a little bit.  I walked for a total of 2 minutes toward the end, but other than that, I finished the race strong!  The last 0.3 miles, I was able to semi-sprint to the end!  Here's my official time:

I know I'd met my C goal, since my average pace was 10:26. I also thought I met my B goal (PR), since I remembered my first 10K time as 1:06.  After looking it up, I realized I actually finished 20 seconds SLOWER than last year!  How funny!  I also thought there was no way I PRed in my age group.  That is, until I looked at the results.

I was third place!  I waited around for the awards and got my plaque.  I was so excited when I got home!  You can tell my cheese-tastic smile in this picture.

Overall, I was really happy with my performance at this race.  I controlled my pace, I ran almost the entire race, and I had a great time.  I also met my A (and C) goal for the race, so Saturday was a good day!

Next up: Daytona Beach Half Marathon and the Disney Princess Half Marathon the week after!

(Side note: feel free to support my efforts of running the Princess Half for the Kellsie's Hope Foundation.  Click here, click on my name, and give what you can)  After all of that, I plan on running another 10K to get my PR at that distance.

Question for you: Have you run any races lately?  What's a race goal you normally set for youself?