Earlier this year I did the Cap 10K as my first ever race at that distance. It wasn’t what I would call a very good effort on my part, and I turned in a 58:11 time for a 9:23 pace. I wasn’t too happy with the conditions (70% humidity) or the fact that I hadn’t been running for too long after coming off my ITB injury.

Earlier this week, less than six months after that race, I ran six miles in worse conditions, as far as the weather went. I’m coming off an MCL sprain. I was trying to go slow, and did the distance in 55:47 for a 9:18 pace. The course was at least as challenging as the race, IMO, without any of the support.

That’s pretty cool.

My next 10K is going to be on October 3rd. My current goal is simply to bring it in under 50 minutes, which would be an 8:02 pace. I think that that’s very achievable. McMillan thinks I can do it if I can pull off a 24:00 5K, which I think I could do right now. I’d love to have both halves of the 10K come in under my old 5K race time, and with good management I don’t see why they can’t. Which, come to think of it, is a pretty nice feeling.

I still need to work on my pacing, which I’m learning. My long runs will only be up to eight miles by then, which is a little concerning, but at least I’ll have had three at-or-above race distance. My speed needs a bit of a boost, but I have six scheduled speedwork sessions between now and then. I think I can do this…

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