Chase the Pumpkin 10K

A local Knights of Columbus group organized a race to raise money for diabetes.  A friend of mine asked if I was interested in going with her to run the 10K.  The race was less than two hours away from home and the fee was less than $20.  I was in.

I've been working on my running form; changing it from a heel strike to a forefoot strike.  Changing my running form has slowed me down.  I've also have been focusing on increasing my cadence, steps per minute.

My goals for this race was to run the entire race using a forefoot strike.  I haven't been able to do much speedwork or tempo work with my new form yet, so I knew that my time wasn't going to be close to a PR.

Before our 10K

The temperature was 35 degrees.  There wasn't too much wind which was a nice change from earlier in the week.  The course was an out and back.

Mile 1:  9:50  Avg Cadence 82.1
A 12 year old ran along side me and jabbered away about how she tries to find a running buddy in the race.  I said that she was welcome to run with me until her half way point, since she was running the 5K and I the 10K.

Mile 2:  10:07  Avg Cadence 81.4

Mile 3:  10:36  Avg Cadence 80.8

Mile 4:  10:34  Avg Cadence 80.4

Mile 5:  10:43  Avg Cadence 81.0

Mile 6:  11:20  Avg Cadence 78.4
There wasn't any runners ahead of me.  I came to a corner and I didn't know if I was to go straight or turn.  I turned.  Bad move, I had taken a wrong turn on the course.  When I realized my mistake, I had two options.  Go back to where I had turned or cut through the field to get back onto the course.  Not sure what was proper race etiquette but I elected to run through the field.  Upon coming out of the field, a volunteer asked me if I had taken a wrong turn and pointed me into the right direction.  Looking at my data, my detour cost me more than 1:17.

With the course being an out and back, you can see where I took the wrong turn.

To the finish:  0.35 miles (0.15 miles longer than the race)  10:06 pace with an average cadence of 81.5
My friend had finished ten minutes before me.  She was very kind to run with me into the finish.

This was the flattest course that I've raced.  Gunner didn't register any elevation change.

6.35 mi

1:06:43

10:30 pace

80.7 avg cadence