This morning Crystal and I ran the Day of the Tread 10K race. It was fun racing with Crystal after training with her for this half-marathon. I have to say that I am extremely proud of her and that I am amazed at how tough she is as a runner. I've never really ran a race with her, so it was very cool for me.
The 10K course was just 2 laps of the 5K course, which was run through some Albuquerque neighborhoods. There were quite a few hills, so it was definitely a tough course. They started the 10K runners along with the 5K runners, which was tough because we had to pass through the finish line twice and the first time the 5K runners got to finish and we had to keep going. We ran the first 5K in about 22:40 and I could tell Crystal wasn't feeling very well. She told me after the race that that she really wished she were only doing the 5K at that point. Anyway, we had to do another lap and there was a woman who had just passed us, so we had some serious competition for Crystal to try to win another race.
We managed to make it through the 4th mile and the lady stayed about 30-40 meters in front of us the whole time. I could tell Crystal was feeling frustrated, but she just kept chugging along. She picked up the pace during the 5th mile (~ 7:00 min/mile) and every time we would close the gap to the lady in front of us, she would hear us getting close and run even faster. I thought we had thrown our best at her and that maybe it just wasn't enough. I asked Crystal if she thought she had it in her to catch her and she kind of grumbled something like "I guess..." at me. I wasn't so confident in that answer, but I told her my strategy to try to pass the lady about a 1/4 mile from the finish where there was a big uphill climb. I knew if we got too close to her before that, she would just hear us and start running harder again, so we stayed about 10 meters back through the 6th mile. We ran the 6th mile in 6:57 and I wasn't sure that even I had the energy to catch the lady at that point.
We finally reached the hill and I told Crystal now was our chance if she wanted to go for it. Without hesitation Crystal just picked up the pace and smoked it up the hill and through the finish line. We passed the lady very quickly and never looked back. Crystal ended up beating her by about 10 seconds. I couldn't believe how tough Crystal ran. We ended up running the second 5K in about 22:20, which is very exciting because we had negative splits (a running term for completing the 2nd half of a race faster than the 1st half). It was great!
In the end there was a super fast woman who won the entire race (men and women), but it was an exhilarating experience to come from behind at the end and beat that lady. Crystal and I tied for 4th place overall (men and women). Crystal was 2nd for the women and I was 3rd for the men. We got some cool medals and enjoyed the food spread provided by the race organizers. It was beautiful day in Albuquerque and it was fun to be out racing. I am really excited for our half-marathon in Seattle on Nov. 29th. I'm sure Crystal will amaze me again and I can't wait.
Success!
