Sarah Miller's Angus Glen 10Km

I ran at the Angus Glen 10K this past weekend, and Jamie asked me to write about it for the club blog and I was happy to oblige. Here it is!
This was my first ever 10K race, so first and foremost my goal was to get across the finish line. But, I also had a time goal of 50 minutes. I had trained hard for the event, but I still was unsure if I could run that fast!
My warm up went great, I was focused and ready to run. The gun went off and it took me a full minute to get across the line, my first kilometer was slower than planned because of all the weaving I had to do to settle into my pace. Finally the crowd thinned and off I went! I found some people that had the same goal in mind and ran with them. Nutrition went exactly as planned and I pushed hard! The first few kilometers went by quickly. I took half a gel a little before the aid station at the 3K mark, better safe than sorry! I hit the 5K mark right on target, the race was half over! Nutrition was going well and I pushed hard! I continued this up until 7K, where I hit a bit of a rut. My right side had been cramping, and by the time 7K rolled around, it was bad. I stopped to walk for about 15-20m, to see if that would relieve the pain. Thankfully it did, the pain subsided a little and when I started to run again, my legs just took off. I felt even better than I had before and I quit looking at my watch to check my pace. I would be happy with under 55:00, I decided that would be my new goal. I ran with how I felt, and I felt fast. I caught up with this one guy who looked to be clipping along at a decent pace and stuck with him. We hit the 8K mark, no problem. The next 1000m went by quickly. We had 1 kilometre left! There was a downhill and I poured speed into it and let gravity take me along. Then it was 500m until the finish. I glanced at my watch. 50 minutes was attainable! I gave it all I had; calling up every ounce of energy I had left. My breathing became short and quick, but there was no way I would let up. I crossed the line in 50:36! I was elated I had hit my goal time! After I walked out for a bit, I went inside and the results were posted shortly after. I checked out my stats and discovered that I had placed 3rd in my age group!!! (19 and under) Needless to say, I had a great first 10K and will be returning next year in search of a faster time!

Sarah Miller