Los Gatos 10k Post-Mortem [Lookin' Back & Forward]

Race #6 is in the books, and for me it was a PR for the 10k.

The Results:

Finish: 1:08:40
Place Overall: 277 out of 463
Men Age Group: 38 out of 45
Strollers That Passed Me: 0 (!)

Pace*: 10:18
Splits*:

m1  9:28
m2  9:56
m3  9:58
m4  9:32
m5  10:00
m6  10:13

* Both Pace and Splits are from Nike+, which looks dubious and imprecise. But screw it, it's close enough. I also made the stupid mistake *again* of wandering around with my Nike+ after the run without shutting it off, which explains the fall-off at the end. Duh. I'm an idiot.

What a fun day! This was my first tweet-up race with Twitter folks, which included: @jasonwiener, @ridgeley, @smellycents, @sugigrl and @csoto. They all ran the half and I ran the 10k, but we got some good hang-out time pre- and post-race. Such a good time.

Brief Recap & Highlights

• When @smellycents tells you it's a flat, fast course, do not believe her. Aside from the mid-race rolling hills, there was at least 2 hearty ascents and a few downhills to be reckoned with. You've been warned.
• It was toasty out there. Maybe mid-80s or so, sunny and a little humid at race time. I sweat buckets, but thanks to my ridiculous heat-training efforts I was able to weather it well. Success!
• The course wasn't marked well splits-wise. At least I didn't see the markers for the first 5 miles or so. At one point I passed by two course workers that were busy flirting with each other. Out of curiousity (and to get my bearings) I asked them "hey, where are we in the course?" They were late-teens to early-twenties. The guy responded "you're in between mile 2 and 3." The girl, however, responded "don't worry—you're doing fine! Keep going!" What a dumbass. Seriously? Dude, I'm not looking for info, not a cheering section. Oy. Urge to punch...rising....rising...
• I felt like I kept my pace—hills and all—pretty well. I felt better conditioned for this race than others, and a lot more confident. I did Galloway twice—once at about mile 5 for 30 seconds, and then down the final hill. This spurs me on for the next 10k, to keep my pace consistently throughout the whole entire monkey. Well, given a flat course.

Favorite Moment

@smellycents bombing down the final hill, passing me and screaming "go get 'em John whooooooo!!!" right in my ear—loud enough to induce a fight-or-flight response from my adrenal glands and numbness in my left ear. It was hysterical, because she had basically caught up with me even though she ran 4 extra miles at that point.

Lookin' Back

So, 10k #2 is in the bag. I like 10ks. I think this'll be my distance. I beat my previous 10k by :08 measly seconds, but this was a much tougher course and conditions.

Lookin' Forward

Next weekend is the San Francisco Marathon, and I'm doing the 5k. It's a flat, flat course, and I'm hoping to sub-30:00. I'm gonna hustle ass and see how it goes.

I will also be diligently focusing on October's San Jose Rock N Roll Half Marathon. That should occupy me for a good 2 months. I'm going to stick to the Higdon plan like glue, put in the miles, put in the time and hope for the best.

Big ups to all that raced this weekend. Y'all rock.