Run For The Animals 10k: Pre-Race Thoughts

I'm racing the Run for the Animals 10k in Wheaton on Saturday. My history with 10ks has been an up and down experience. At my first 10k ever, I ran a poorly executed 40:10 in the heat and ended up falling down at the finish line and needing assistance over to a fence where I got sick!  I then set an arbitrary goal of breaking 40 minutes by the time I turned 40. That did not happen - as injury from over-training got the best of me. In fact I didn't break 40 minutes in a 10k until I was past 40 when I ran a 38:10. However, I haven't been back below 39:00 in eight subsequent attempts.

Due to poor pacing decisions, my first dozen 10k times look like a roller coaster on a graph. Now that I'm older and just a little wiser, they've leveled off to around 40 minutes since my PR six years ago:

My 10k times

On Saturday I'll step up to the line to attempt not only to break that PR, but to hopefully demolish it. I just need to pick the right pace given the temperatures and how I'm feeling that morning. My expectations are high because it's been a banner year in the "PR department" with one each in the 5k, 8k, 10 mile, and marathon. I've put a lot of effort into training for this race with a 91 mile weekly PDR last week and a monthly PDR of 366 miles in May. So I'm either totally primed for success or will be trying to coax some non-existent speed out of tired legs!

Running along the lake

I guess I'll see what happens on Saturday!