Race Coverage

Broken Reverse Aquathlon...

Tuesday, 10 February 2015 06:10

Photo - This pic is unrelated to this post. It's here because we think it's cool, and because it makes Heather look like a nun.

By Heather Lendway (heatherlendway.com)

This past Saturday (Jan. 24 I raced the 10K at the Securian Winter Run in downtown St. Paul. As it’s about time to start gearing up the training for the season it was a good opportunity to see where my run performance is at. I had raced the half marathon twice in the past; both times it was near zero degree temps. I was overjoyed when the temperatures for Saturday were predicted to be in the low 30’s with no snow, so the roads would be clear and my muscles and breathing wouldn’t be affected by ridiculous cold. Saturday was beautiful, mid 30’s and sunny; I actually think I got a little tan on my face, no complaints! The half marathon went off at 9am and the 10K group followed five minutes later. The course starts winding you up and down through downtown St. Paul for two miles, then the course heads down to the river for a few miles with the last mile weaving you back through downtown to the finish line....

At the start of the race I took off with a pack of about five men and one girl. I knew some of the people in the front pack would take it out harder and fall off so I tried to relax and hang back a bit. My plan was to race hard the first half but really push the pace on the second half. When my watch buzzed for mile one I glanced at my watch, 5:46, oops! I wasn’t really expecting that, I settled into my pace a little more and worked on picking off a couple of the racers ahead. Pretty quickly we mixed in with crowds of people running the half so you couldn’t tell who was who. Mile 2 buzzed and I had settled into a 6:20 pace. I was feeling pretty good so just worked to maintain that pace the next mile. READ MORE