2007 IBM 10K

Today was the kick off the fall/winter running season with the IBM 10K. I have run this race every year I have been in Austin except for last year when I went to Phoenix for my friend Jon's funeral. The weather this morning was really nice. It was in the low 60s with a breeze and not too humid. I got to the race site about an hour early hit the potties and then did a two mile warm up. I got into the chute at about 7:45 and found some of my training buds. The race went off late because there weren't enough potties and there was a huge line.

When we finally started I had to dodge the usual folks that got up front and shouldn't have been there. It was really frustrating because the first part of the course was so narrow. I finally got into a good groove when we came out of the IBM campus and hit Burnet. We then wound into the Domain shopping area where the Distance Challenge had their first screw up of the season. It seems they always have one so I am glad it happened early at the 10K. We hit a spot where we were supposed to go right and I guess the two leaders were so far ahead that a big pack behind them went the wrong way. They caught the error just as I was coming up to the turn. It felt weird being at the front of the pack, but kind of fun at the same time. I was feeling really good and was on pace to break 44 minutes. My splits for the first4 miles were 6:53, 6:43; 6:49, and 6:51. There was a hill at mile 5 that slowed me a bit and turned up my heart rate. There was a false top and another very slight climb and I wasn't able to recover until about the 5.75 mile mark. Once I did I picked it back up toward the finish. Larry caught me during mile 5 and I couldn't keep up with him. He ended up beating me by less than 30 seconds. Mile 5 and 6 were 7:12 and 7:13. I did the last part in 2:04 which on my watch was .32 miles. My finish time was 43:49 which was a new PR by 46 seconds and a 7:03 pace.

Total Mileage - 8.2 miles
Race Stats - 6.2 miles/43:49/7:03 pace - NEW PR!!
AHR - 165
MHR - 172