OSF Heritage 10K

This particular race brings out alot of the good runners. Last year I didn't even place in the top 5 of my age group. Sixth to be exact with a time of 52:40.

So on this day my goal was to just set a new PR. My goal was to get under 50 minutes. I knew it was possible because I was in another 10K in January with slippery roads and near white out conditions. Plus there were more hills. This course was completely flat and the temps were good....mid 60's.

The only thing that I could see stopping me was the extreme wind. But last year it was the same so the conditions were equal.

Going out my first split was 7:35 and I knew I needed to slow down. But it was on a slight decline so I figured that was it. Little did I realize that the wind was to my back.

I felt really good during the whole race. Even when I had to dip my head like a horse coming back against that headwind. But it seemed to help.

The turnaround point was 23:38 which wasn't much slower than a recent 5K for 3.1 miles.

At this point is where I slowly picked person after person off. There were plenty of distractions along this bike path because it was such a nice day. I almost ran over a little girl on her bike with training wheels. I don't think she saw me coming and she cut in front of me.

As I got closer to the finish there was one man that I just couldn't catch. He stayed about 20 feet in front of me and the more I sped up, the more he did too.

As I turned the corner before the finish line I had two blocks to go. My friend that came with me yelled,"It's 49 and change, if you kick it in you can still make it under 50." So I gave it all I had even though I was hurting. I figured there was NO WAY I was getting this close to my PR and not get it. As I got closer I could see the clock ticking....49:35, 49:36, 49:37. I didn't even realize I flew by the man that I couldn't pass earlier I was so intent on beating that clock.

Finishing time was 49:51!!! A new PR and UNDER 50. I reached my goal! What a great feeling.

I was surprised to find out that they were giving medals out to 5 places and since I got fifth in my age group, I received one. It looked like all the good runners, men and women, were within the 35-45 age bracket. Figures!!

On to CMM 1/2!