City of Lakes 25K Race Report

This race was a little rough, but in a way I am kinda glad. I learned a couple lessons (that I SHOULD have already known).

1) Diet the night before the race really does matter (and Japanese steakhouse is a poor choice for me). I woke up Sunday morning feeling a little sick to my stomach, I think dinner was just a little too greasy (but I LOVE Japanese steakhouse!)

2) If you think you are starting too fast, you probably ARE! Yes, I made this rookie mistake. I was planning on taking it easy and going for anywhere in the range of 10:30-11:00 pace. So, during the first mile when I checked the Garmin and saw that I was at 10:15 what did I do? Yep...I kept up that pace for the next 5 miles!! I guess I figured that my last HM back in May was at 10:30, and I have been working hard since then so maybe I would be ok? Well, anyway after the first 10K my pace started to steadily decline until I was close to 12:00 miles. I was able to kick it up at the end and finished the last .7 mile (per the Garmin) at around 10:30.

So, I am thinking maybe I will start with a pace group for the marathon...just to make sure I don't do this again. If I start with the 5 hour group, that should keep me slow enough early on and I can speed up later on if I feel comfortable...I am thinking Nokomis to the Franklin bridge would be a good area to bank some time if I am feeling strong.

Stats
Race: City of Lakes
Date: Sept 13, 2009
Distance: 25K
Official Time: 2:25:36
Average Pace: 11:06
Overall Place: 289/324 (women only)
Place in Age Group: 32/41