Race Report: Jingle All the Way 15K, December 15, 2024

 I ran the Jingle All the Way 15K last weekend, finishing in an official time of 1:10:11.

[this race report is being written very late.  That's what happens when a newly adopted kitten takes up all of your free time.]

This race was my tune-up for Houston, and a chance to check my fitness.  I prefer a half-marathon 3 weeks out from a marathon, but Houston always falls 3 weeks after Christmas/New Years, and half-marathons are hard to come by at that time of year.  Hence using this 15K 5 weeks out instead.

It's been a tough uphill climb trying to rebuild my fitness after missing 8 weeks of training this summer.  The older you get, the harder it is to come back (and to stay uninjured while coming back) and so being over 50 weighs against me.  The whole Parkinsons' thing doesn't help either.  And then there was the two weeks of reduced training while Isabella was sick.  

I had been doubting my fitness all the way up to the week before the race, when it seemed like things were possibly starting to turn around.  Hopefully the race would give me a better read on things.

***

The forecast was for temps right about freezing, with overcast skies and light wind. I debated what to wear before opting for a longsleeve and tights.  I've realized in the past year that I don't run well when I'm cold anymore - I become way too stiff.  However, given that 32 degrees used to be singlet, arm-warmers, and shorts weather for me, I've been reluctant to wear too much when racing.  A longsleeve and tights seemed like the most I could reasonably wear while racing, so I went with that.

***

I arrived at my supah-secret parking space at 7:15 am (the race started at 8:30).  I put on my racing shoes (Hoka Rocket X2) waited a few minutes and then left my car to head over to the start line.  I was wearing a throwaway sweatshirt over my racing outfit - I'd tie that around my waist if I was too hot while warming up, but plan on keeping it until right before the gun.

As it turned out, I never felt warm during my warm-up, even with the sweatshirt on.  I wished I had brought something else - a light jacket or even just a buff for my neck, but unfortunately I hadn't.  So I had to go with what I had.

***

I attempted to warm up for a bit over 3 miles, including my fartlek of 3 minutes at tempoish effort, 4x30 seconds faster, and 4x10 second strides.  After that was done, I kept jogging until it was time to jump into the corral - hoping that would keep me warm. 

This was a relatively small race (about 1000 runners) so I was able to get in the corral about 4 minutes before the start.  I placed myself conservatively, knowing that I would start slow.  With 1 minute to go, I reluctantly tossed the sweatshirt.

***

I hadn't thought about it until right before the race, but this 15K was the first time I've been in a mass race start since May.  I've raced since then, but it's all been either track stuff or races where I was in a separate para-athlete start.  I was pleasantly surprised by how well I handled the chaos of the first few minutes of an open start - all that PT is paying off.

I was definitely still stiff, though.  I worked my way through the first mile, and then the second, waiting to warm up and loosen up.  But I never did.  It was frustrating - I wasn't breathing very hard - I was just too cold and stiff to move faster.

That was pretty much the whole race.  I crossed the line feeling like I had done a moderately paced workout, not a race.  And I wasn't even sweating.

I checked my watch and noted my time - over 70 minutes and also my very low heart rate (in the 160s - I'd want to be in the 170s over this distance).  I caught up with some friends, retrieved a polarfleece I had checked at the start, and then jogged a 15 minute "cooldown" that felt way too energetic.

Splits ended up being:

Mile 1: 7:51

Mile 2: 7:35

Mile 3:7:26

Mile 4: 7:13

Mile 5: 7:20

Mile 6: 7:21

Mile 7: 7:20

Mile 8: 7:27

Mile 9: 7:17 

last .44 miles at 7:26 pace

[I used my Strava splits for this as the mile markers were not terribly accurate on this course.  The 15K is supposed to be a certified course, but the route was altered for construction.  So I'm not entirely sure whether this was an exact 15K, or longer, or shorter.  Not that it matters that much, since I was nowhere near a PR.]

So...I feel like I didn't get a good fitness check out of this race.  I guess the one good bit of news is that holding 7:26-7:30 pace for 9+ miles didn't feel very hard - that's better than having run that pace and feeling like it was a maximum effort.  But..my A goal for Houston was to break 3:20 (7:37 pace), and it seems pretty clear that I'm not that fit.  I guess I'll need another few months (and another training cycle) to get there.

Other notes:

• It ended up being 33 degrees with a light wind for the race.  So pretty good weather - I just wasn't dressed correctly.
• I wore the Hoka Rocket X2 for this race - I think this is definitely my marathon shoe, assuming it doesn't rain at Houston.
• I ended up second in the 50-54 age group, 22nd woman overall.
• As I noted above, we have a new kitten, named Karma.  I picked her up a few hours after finishing this race.  In fact, I was time crunched enough that I didn't have time to shower and change before picking her up, which means that the photo of me taking her home has me all bedraggled, with my face still shiny with vaseline.  Oh well - everyone was looking at the kitten anyway :)

Race Report: Jingle All the Way 15K, December 10, 2023

I ran the Jingle All the Way 15K this morning, finishing in a time of 1:08:04 - good enough for 6th female overall and top master female.

This race was a tune-up for the Houston Marathon, which is now 5 weeks away.  I personally prefer to use a half-marathon 3 weeks out from the marathon as a tune-up.  However, 3 weeks out from Houston is Christmas weekend, so there aren't many options.  So I went with this race instead.  Just like I did last year before Houston.

When I signed up, I was also hoping I could run significantly faster than last year, since I'm now in a far better place running-wise.  However, two different wrenches fell into that plan.  

The first was that in the past few weeks I've tried and then abandoned a new-to-me medication - Lexapro.  The Lexapro really helped dampen down some hyperactive reflexes (good) but also made me really sluggish, with fast running being particularly challenging (bad).  So I stopped it about 10 days ago (at the neurologist's instruction). I've felt a bit better every day since, but I'm still on the upswing.

The second wrench was the weather.  Last year this race had perfect weather.  This year, it didn't.  The forecast was for a big weather front to roll through during the race.  Heavy rain, wind, etc.  Lovely.  But....also a good chance to test out the shoe I intend to wear for Houston - the Adios Pro 3 - in less-than-ideal conditions.

[side note: yes, I also considered wearing the Adios Pro 3 for Chicago last year, and then decided I hated that shoe.  So why am I giving it another chance?  Because the shoe I wore last year was a women's 7.5 - the smallest size I could get.  I finally managed to get hold of a women's 7 in that shoe, and it fits much better and feels better as a result.]

***

Race morning dawned unseasonably warm and muggy - temperature and dewpoint in the high 50s.  This would be great weather for a summer or early fall race, but not so great after training in the 30s for several weeks.  At least I didn't have to debate tights versus shorts.

The forecast was still for rain, so I wore a hat.  I also tucked a folded plastic poncho in my sportsbra so that I had it for the corral if the rain started pre-race.  And...remembering the advice a friend gave me when I whined about foggy glasses, I wiped my running glasses with an anti-fog wipe. 

Just like last year, I found a great parking spot.  From there, I jogged to the starting area where 17th street was once again closed to traffic (just like last year).  I did my warm-up fartlek there (3:00 at marathon to half-marathon effort, 4x30 seconds at 5K effort, 4x10 seconds at mile effort) and then made my way to the corral, entering with about 10 minutes to spare.  Once in there, I navigated to the correct proportion of supershoes versus hydration packs. 

The first mile of a race is always rough for me in terms of balance and gait - it's just life now.  For a while I was deliberately seeding myself on the far side of the corral in hopes that I could stay out of the way of others once the race started.  However, I've learned that running on the side is actually more chaotic than in the center, since the side is where people who started late or too far back in the corral sprint and swerve to try to get past the masses blocking them.  So now I'm a centrist in my corral placement.

***

The race started.  As I expected, my gait was wonky the first mile, and a downhill plus a stretch of rough pavement didn't help.  But things did feel smoother than last year, so that was a bonus.  After the first mile, my gait did start to level out, and I started to work my way through the runners in front of me.

It was noticeably warm (at least in a relative sense - again, this would have been A+ weather in August), and 7-8 minutes of running was enough to realize that I needed to be conservative here rather than run as if it was a normal winter day.  

That conservatism only lasted a few miles before the wind picked up.  And then we turned at the Kennedy Center, and the wind became a real factor.   But the positive side was that I was no longer worried about overheating, so I picked up the effort.  At this point, I could make a bad pun about "throwing caution to the wind" but the truth is that the headwind actually ripped the caution away. There were a few women ahead of me, and I got to work chasing them down.

The wind was a factor for most the next three miles, as we headed towards the tip of Hains Point.  Luckily, I managed to find a group of three guys to tuck behind (who were running faster than the women I wanted to pass).  Unluckily, one of them was blasting awful pop music from his cell phone.  But luckily (for everyone save said pop-music aficionado) the cell phone eventually froze up and he pulled off to the side to fix it.  I didn't understand his priorities, but I appreciated the reprieve.

***

There are two ways you can circle the bottom tip of Hains Point - either stay on the road or cut through a parking lot.  This course had us cutting through the lot.  However, Hains Point has changed for the worse since last year, including a poorly thought-out attempt to improve pedestrian safety that resulted in flexible posts in awkward places.  The 15K course was not re-measured to account for these, with the result that making the turn into the lot now meant that we had to weave between posts.  Fortunately, I was far enough up in the field that I had plenty of room to maneuver, but I would really hate to try to navigate this part in a crowd.

Once through the lot, I now had the wind at my back - smooth sailing, right?  That didn't last too long, as what was a drizzle shifted into a comical downpour.  It was ridiculous.  But... a) if I slowed I was just going to be out here longer, and b) this weather happens in goal races too, so I needed to take advantage of this opportunity to practice racing in heavy rain.

The last few miles were a slog, both figuratively and literally.  The water was ponding and my shoes were starting to feel sloshy.  Mile 8 of this race overlaps with Mile 1, which mean I had to run over my favorite stretch of rough pavement a second time - this time obscured by large puddles. I've been doing some trail running each week to get more comfortable with uneven footing, and I told myself that it was time to put that work to good use and pushed onwards.

The end of this race is a slight uphill and then a gentle downhill.  I passed a guy on the uphill and he said "nice job."  Then we hit the downhill and he flew past me in that way that I used to love when I did it to others and now hate when it's done to me.  I did not say "nice job" back - but that was honestly just because I was focusing on running the downhill decently well.  (I did find him after and fist-bump him for a good race).

I finished the race and stopped my watch, noting 1:08 for my time.  So significantly slower than last year.  But despite that, I was satisfied.  I had put in a good hard effort and my gait felt solid for much of this race.  Plus, I was pretty sure I had finished fairly high up in both the overall women's results and in the masters field, based on what I had seen of the field ahead of me at turn-around points.

Splits were:

Mile 1: 7:43
Mile 2: 7:10
Mile 3: 7:21
Mile 4-5: 15:45 (long)
Mile 6-7: 13:24 (short)
Mile 8: 7:16
Mile 9: 7:08
last .31: 2:17

So...as I expected, slower than last year.  But despite that, I actually think this was a much better performance.  My gait felt much better and more stable than it did last year, and I felt much more comfortable and confident in my balance when dealing with stuff like chaotic crowds, rough pavement, and wind/rain.  This was a good confidence boost going into Houston.

I did note that I didn't really have any higher gears for this race - there were points where aerobically I could have run harder, but I just didn't have the gear in my legs.  I'm not worried about this for two reasons:
a) I'm still working out of the sluggishness of the Lexapro, and all of my training paces were dramatically slowed while I was on the Lexapro.  I didn't have that gear in part because I was out of practice (and possible in part because the last bits of the Lexapro are still wearing off).
b) I feel like the Adios Pro 3 really has a sweet spot pacewise for me, and that sweet spot is marathon pace.  Which is really good, because I have a marathon coming up.  If this race had been a goal race in itself, I think I would have been better off with either the Hoka Rocket X (if there hadn't been rain) or the Asics Metaspeed Edge+ - both of which feel a bit more nimble and quick.

Other notes:

• Left home at 7:10 for the 8:30 start.  This was enough time that I didn't feel rushed, but I wouldn't have wanted to leave any later.
  
• The Adios Pro 3 has decent to decent+ grip on wet pavement. It's certainly much better than any Hoka or Saucony shoe I've ever run in, but not as good as other Adidas shoes.  Not sure why.
• I hid my plastic rain poncho behind a bench before getting into my corral.  A+ decision - it was great to be able to retrieve that and wear it for my cooldown jog back to my car.
• Wiping my running glasses with that anti-fog stuff was another A+ decision.  Foggy glasses were not an issue at all for this race.
• About 3 weeks ago I ran the Rothman 8K at 7:18 pace.  Today I ran this 15K at 7:19 pace.  I certainly would not object to running the Houston Marathon at 7:18-19 pace if this trend continues.

Race Report: Jingle All the Way 15K, December 11, 2022

I ran the Jingle All the Way 15K today, finishing in a time of 66:14.

I signed up for this race for a few reasons - 1) I've always wanted to run it but the scheduling hasn't worked out; 2) I'm training for the Houston Marathon (still undecided on whether I'll do it) and this worked well as a tune-up; and 3) as I work through my neurologic issues, it's helpful to keep testing myself by racing.

***

For those neuro issues (and I still don't have an official diagnosis - we're going with "dystonia" for now) I recently swapped to a new medication called carbidopa/levodopa.  So far it seems to be helping, though I'm told it will take a few weeks to see the full benefits of it.  

C/L is a tricky medication to be on - I need to take it every 5 hours, starting first thing in the morning.  It takes about 30-45 minutes to kick in, and it also seems to wear off about 4 hours after I take it.    I also need to time it carefully around meals, since food (especially protein) consumed too close to it can interfere with the uptake.  At the same time, I also need to time my meals carefully around racing, since my ulcerative colitis means that I'm prone to significant GI problems when running if I'm not careful.

So yeah, it's complicated.

Normally, I would wake up around 5 am for this race (which had an 8:30 am start).  Doing so would mean that I would have sufficient time to eat breakfast and move it through the system, so to speak.  However, taking my first dose of C/L at 5 am would mean that it would wear off at 9 am - approximately halfway through this race.  And obviously all of this medication and food timing will become even more tricky when I run a full marathon.

So... I tried the following schedule for this race:

-wake up at 2 am, take first dose of C/L.  Try to go back to sleep.
-wake up a second time at 5 am, eat breakfast like normal.  Allow breakfast to move through the GI tract while stretching.
- take second dose of C/L at 7 am, leave for race.

This sequence seemed to work well, as the C/L definitely did not wear off for the race.

***

This race starts at the same spot as the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler, but is a lot smaller, so I had no issue finding parking reasonably close to the start.  I swapped into my racing shoes and headed down to do my warm-up routine (20 minutes easy jogging, 3 minutes at tempo effort with 90 second jog, 4x30 seconds at 5K effort with 30 second jog, and then four 10 second strides) before hitting the porta-johns one final time and lining up.  There were no signs indicating pace groups, so I just guessed at the right spot.  

Since the first turn on the course is a right, I lined myself on the left side so that I would hopefully not be too crowded early on.  (The C/L seems to help a lot with my hip extension/stride length, but so far it's not doing much for my issues with uneven pavement/curbs or crowds).   Then the race started.

The first few moments of the race went well as we ran up a gentle slope.  Then we turned right and descended, and my gait got really wonky.  It was the trifecta of things that trigger my neuro issues - decline, crowds, and uneven pavement.  

As always happens at this point, I really wanted to step off the race course, but I forced myself to keep going - the whole point of racing, especially on the new medication, was to see what went wrong and what went right.

The first mile was rough, the next mile a bit better, and then things smoothed out.  By the time we hit mile 4 I felt pretty good, and from that point I was able to roll.  I still had some limitations - aerobically it felt like I had more to give, but every time I tried to speed up, my legs would stiffen up and I'd start to catch my left toe on the ground.  So I maintained the fastest I could run without faceplanting, and called it good enough.

The finish to this race is down a gentle incline (the same one we ran up at the very start).  In years past I would have been able to fly here, but today I settled for maintaining my pace and trying not to face plant.  Not ideal, but you do your best and accept it.

Splits were:

Mile 1: 7:39
Mile 2: 7:14
Mile 3: 7:06
Mile 4: 7:04
Mile 5: 6:58
Mile 6: 7:02
Mile 7: 6:57
Mile 8: 7:01
Mile 9 plus last .33: 9:15

I have pretty mixed emotions about this race overall.  I still have a long way to go to get back to where I want to be, and the fact that I struggle so much with running in crowds and on uneven pavement is frustrating.  On the other hand, I'm still doing this, and the later miles were smooth enough to give me hope.  So I'll just keep trying.

Other notes:

• Perfect weather this year - temperatures in the low 40s, with overcast skies and no wind.  That plus a lighting fast course made for a super fast race day.  Hopefully more people will recognize this and show up in future years.
• I wore the Metaspeed Edge+ for this race.  I have to admit, I like this shoe a lot for anything 15K or longer.
• My Garmin measured 9.55 miles for this course, but I'm sure the course was accurate.  My Garmin simply went crazy under the Kennedy Center overhang.
• Supposedly it will take a few weeks for the C/L to take full effect (I've been on it for 2 weeks).  So perhaps I'll see more improvement in the future.
• Surprisingly, I won my age group, so that was nice.
• Since the timing of meds worked well for this race (wake up early, take first dose, then take second dose in close proximity to race) I'll try the same for my long runs and ultimately the marathon.
• I wore tights, a singlet, and arm-warmers - it worked well for these conditions.

Race report: Cherry Blossom 10 Miler, April 12, 2015

I ran the Cherry Blossom not quite 10 Miler this morning, finishing in a time of 62:01.

As you can probably tell, the course was short, due to a last minute rerouting.  Supposedly around 9.5 miles (9.48 on my Garmin).  But even with the issues with the course, I was pretty happy with this race.

Cherry Blossom is always one of my favorite races.  Not because I love flowering trees.

In fact, I hate flowering trees.

And the fact that these particular trees are baby pink and surrounded by swarms of tourons does nothing to endear them to me.

(I mean seriously - why do people get so freakin excited about pink trees?  I.do.not.get.it)

But I still love the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler.  It's a fantastically managed race on a fast course that normally has good weather.  And that more than compensates for the stupid trees.


And the weather for today was forecast to be absolutely perfect for racing.  Low to mid-40s, with no wind and low (but not too low) humidity.  Great weather plus fast course means high PR potential for most people.

But not for me.  My 10 mile PR is 65:31, from this same course in similarly fantastic weather.  And though I'm getting into good shape, I didn't think I had quite the fitness I needed to challenge that PR.  But that was OK.  It was still great just to be racing this race, especially after how last year went.

And...as I've noted below, I benefit most in my training from lactate threshold work.  And any race between 15K and the half-marathon distance is a fantastic lactate threshold workout, regardless of how the race goes.  I couldn't think of a better way to kick off the first official week of my training for Grandma's Marathon.

***

Race morning was pretty much the same as always.  Woke up, ate breakfast, puffed my asthma meds and mobilized my hips and ankle, plus some glute firing for the heck of it.  Then donned my throwaway shirt and set off.

You can't tell from the photo, but this top is very sparkly.

My throwaway shirt, btw, was awesome.  A few weeks ago, at a friend's 80s themed birthday party, another friend had worn a sparkly pink Little Mermaid shirt.  It was the subject of some discussion - she explained that the shirts had been on sale at Target for about $3, so she grabbed one.

The next day I was at Target, stocking up on $3 throwaway shirts.  If you know me at all personally, then you know that my personal tastes tend towards dark nail polish and skulls, with the occasional infusion of dayglo.  A pink sparkly shirt featuring a Disney Princess is pretty close to a costume for me.  Which is what made this so hilarious.

So... accompanied by Ariel, I made my way to the race, checked my post race bag, and started jogging. I did a 3 mile warm-up very easy, and then some drills and an extended stride around the Washington Monument - running hard until my heart rate got into the 70s. I've tried this extended stride for several races now, and I feel it really warms me up and gets me prepped in a way that shorter strides don't.

Then some more drills, and two shorter strides, and into the corral.

While I was warming up, the race director came onto the loudspeaker and announced that due to a police investigation on course, we'd be rerouted.  He continued on to explain that the rerouting would occur between miles 4 and 6, and that the mile markers from 1-4 and 6-the finish would be accurate.  The total race distance would be confirmed later, but was between 9.5 and 9.75 miles.

I have to stop here and praise the Cherry Blossom race management here.  They were presented with a very difficult situation - for a major race with over 10,000 runners, they had learned less than 90 minutes pre-race start that the course was blocked.  They couldn't use the course as posted, and they couldn't delay the race (they had a strict time limit for reopening the roads).

So they had to modify the course.  Which they did in a way that flowed seamlessly.  And they clearly communicated to us exactly what was happening.  This is how you do it, folks.

***

With 5 minutes to go, I ducked in my corral and tossed Ariel aside like last century's VHS tape.  I had a chance to briefly greet my podiatrist, which was fun -- it was great to see him under better circumstances than last year's race :).

The race manager made another announcement, reminding us of the course change that would occur between miles 4 and 6, and also describing where we would be turning.  Again, it was a great example of how to handle a last minute rerouting.  Then we were off.

***

My plan was to go out conservatively for the first and second miles, and then pick up my pace on a downhill section after we crossed the Memorial Bridge - about the 2.5 mark.

Cherry Blossom does tend to go out fast - both because people are amped, and because the first mile is moderately down hill.  And despite my best efforts, I did get sucked out.  I didn't go out monstrously fast, but it was not the conservative start I had planned.  When we hit the first mile marker, I didn't feel out of control, but it wasn't the easy feeling I had been shooting for.

I debated for a moment, and then decided to pull back on the throttle.  As we crossed over the bridge I slowed up just slightly, and held that easier feeling for the next two miles, establishing the relaxed feel I had hoped to start the race with.   Once I had that down, then I opened up again.

During this time, I was also looking for a place to toss my water bottle and gloves.  I always start races longer than 10K with a water bottle that I toss.  Around the 2-3 mile marks I was ready to heave it, and on the watch for cheering friends, but I didn't see any of them on the course.  So finally I tossed it when we crossed under the Roosevelt Bridge - if I had a chance, I'd come find it later.

I wasn't willing to toss my gloves, though.  I love those things.  So into the bra shelf of my top they went - the pictures from this race will be lovely.

***

From then on, it was just game on, trying to keep my stride relaxed but powerful, and at the proper effort level.  I can't quite describe where we went on course or how we were rerouted, but I can tell you that it was done seamlessly.  The only indications from my perspective were the missing 5 mile marker and the fact that everyone's Garmins kept squawking where we were nowhere near mile markers.

As I noted in my last race report, I sometimes like to use a gel during races shorter than a half, even if I don't need it - the sugar rush seems to help.  To that point, I took one slurp (about 1/3rd) of a root beer GU at the 4 mile mark and a second slurp at the tip of Hains Point (around 7.5).  It's hard to know how much for sure it helped, but I did feel sharper and more focused during the race.

***

The latter part of this race is on Hains Point in DC.  Hains Point is very straight, flat and fast, but also a bit soul killing, as it seems like you're just running in a straight line forever.

Hains Point also has an added challenge for allergy sufferers - the damn trees.  I've learned from years of running and racing on Hains Point that if you have allergies, they will hit there very hard.  To the extent that it feels like you're running up hill.  Luckily, I've known this and I now always pace my races as if Hains Point will be a slight uphill climb.

Also, I had some solid memories of Hains Point to pull me through.  Way back in February, some teammates and I met on Hains Point to do a long broken tempo workout in horrible conditions - temperatures in the mid-teens, high winds, and snow starting to fall towards the end.    It sucked, but we rocked it and felt like stars after.

From Alien (1979), of course.

No matter how much Hains Point sucks, it will never suck anywhere close to that ever again.    And it wasn't sucking that much right now - relatively speaking.
 
So I just kept trucking.   At one point, I saw a group of friends cheering, and I (finally) tossed my gloves to them.  Better late than never - at least some of my photos wouldn't look like an alien was trying to erupt from my chest.


Finally we hit Mile 9 and the end of Hains Point.  From here on out things were easy mentally, if not physically.  The race has markers every 400m for the last mile, which makes it easier to hang on.  The largest hill (and really, the only big hill) of the course hits with about 600m to go.  It sucks, but it never sucks as much as I fear it will - it's almost a relief to use different muscles after running on flat terrain for so long.  Then over and downhill to the finish.

***

My final official time was 62:01.  Again, for a distance of about 9.5 miles.  My Garmin says 9.48 miles at a pace of 6:33.  This actually makes me pretty happy, as that's my PR pace for 10 miles.

And no, I'm NOT going to claim that I went out and PR'd a 10 miler today.  Or even that I would have PRd had it been 10 miles.  Right now, sitting in this chair, it's easy to talk about holding that pace for another 800m.  But I assure you, when I crossed that line, I was damn ready to be done.

(side question - should I write "PR'd" or "PRed" or "PRd"?  These are the questions that cause me to lose sleep).

But... holding that pace for something close to 10 miles does indicate that I'm in better shape than I thought.  I didn't think I was anywhere near 10 miler PR shape, when apparently I was close.

And upon due reflection, as long as the course (which race management is measuring now) was at least 15K (9.32 miles), I've decided I'll count this as a 15K PR. I'm not going to adjust the time down to count for the extra distance - I'll just take the time as is.

My reasoning is that if I happened to run faster than my 5K PR on a 3.2 mile course, I would definitely count that time as my 5K PR (and then go looking for another 5K that had an accurate course).  So no reason not to do the same here, though I can't really go looking for another 15K - they're very rare here.

***

Splits were (manual splits - Garmin was giving me 1.01 for most miles)
Mile 1: 6:36
Mile 2: 6:44
Mile 3: 6:37
Mile 4: 6:32
Miles 5-6 ish: 9:13 for 1.40 (6:34-sh pace, according to Garmin)
Mile 7: 6:36
Mile 8: 6:39
Mile 9: 6:38
Mile 10: 6:28

Other notes:

• Left home at 6:00, and drove to race, arriving at 6:15 - plenty of time to find good parking.
• One puff Foradil in the morning, 4 puffs albuterol before race.  And I needed it.  Damn pink trees.
• Found my tossed water bottle post race - yay.  At about $12 each, it's not a huge loss if they're gone.  But always nice to save a little money.
• So we ran a totally random distance this morning, where the actual time means very little.  And yet I'm annoyed that I couldn't have run two seconds faster to dip under 1:02.  Runner logic.
• Wore my Adidas Takumi Sens for this race, and was really happy with them.  I haven't worn them for longer than 8 miles before, but after they performed so well in the 10K in Richmond, I thought I'd try them for 10.  Now I'm wondering if they'd work for a half.