Howloween 10K Recap

This past Saturday, I ran in my first 10K race in over a year and a half. I run this distance and more on a weekly basis, but I don't often race a 10K. I was really excited because I won my first 10K and beat my goal!

It was freezing (low to mid 30s) when I got up Saturday morning. After a hot bath and some orange french toast and a scrambled egg, I kissed my family and headed to the race. Kevin and the boys planned to get there around 9:30 so they could see me run in.

This race was really small, but it was fun. I was acquainted with many of the runners, so it was nice to chat before the start. I was all bundled up and set my RunKeeper goal pace for 7:10 as I had walked out of my house without my Garmin.



Going into the race, I decided I was going to just enjoy it. My goal was to run a 10K in under 45 minutes in order to qualify as competitive for the Cooper River Bridge Run. This would also give me a PR in a 10K race. My PR for a 10K on my own is 42:52 (6:54/mile), but I wasn't setting to break that.

The course was beautiful as it ran through several pretty neighborhoods. There were a couple of really fast men running the 10K and I stayed a little behind them through the race. When I realized there wasn't anyone close behind me, I just decided I'd enjoy the race. I listened to my music and just soaked in the fun without focusing on time. Every half mile or so, my iPhone would remind me that was however many seconds above my goal pace (which I set higher than I planned to run), but I didn't worry about time.


My official race time was 43:50, although I think it was closer to 43:15 because the race started at least 30-35 seconds after the clock went off (one of my pre-race pictures shows :33 on the clock) and this race was timed purely with the clock. I'll take 43:50 though. I beat my goal and can run competitive in the CRBR in April, 2014.


I love seeing my husband and our sweet boys at the finish line. It makes me smile wider and run faster!

After the race, we let the boys play around the park and ate some doughnuts while we waited for the awards. I won $100 which the boys both wanted (and we had to explain to Kaden that the five $20 bills equal $100) and we won a door prize which was some free food at McDonald's (fitting for a race, right?) and Chipotle.







All in all, it was a great race!

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