Well it took me three tries and more training than it would have taken you, but I FINALLY managed to break the one-hour mark in a 10K! The Sandcastle City Classic in White Rock, BC was a good choice (thank you Bill, for signing me up). The course was a net downhill with some rolling hills for the first 9K and a nice, long descent for the last kilometer.

As I mentioned before, I’d agreed not to use my Garmin or wear a watch, so when the race started, I had to eventually find a pace that felt like a 9:30 and try to hold it there without any empirical information to rely on (for those of you who know me as an intuitive person, you would be surprised at how much I actually depend on numbers).

The race started with an uphill. This time I was smarter than in the last half marathon I ran with an immediate incline; I found my cadence and settled into a slower, but consistent pace rather than trying to hit my goal pace right out of the gate. This prevented me from wearing myself out as I’ve done in the past and allowed me to give some extra push on the first downhill to make up a little time (I think, but how would I know?).

There was a woman running directly behind me during the whole race who caught up to me on one of the climbs and told me, “Your pace is totally consistent. You’re pacing me perfectly.”

This was good information—but I could still only hope that she was trying to beat an hour too. I never asked her what our pace was (you see, Bill, I CAN delay my gratification if I put my mind to it).

After we passed the last kilometer marker, her husband/boyfriend was waiting for her and I overheard her say that we were 55 minutes into the race. She started giving a kick to the finish and blazed past. I thought, “How long does it take to run a kilometer?” Come to think of it, it would be good to know what my kilometer pace is, given the fact that the whole world outside of the United States measures distance in the metric system. Duh!?

The woman I’d been running with turned around from in front of me several times during the last K and shouted: “Get up here! Come on. Run. You can collapse at the end. Hurry up!” And I promise you that I pushed myself has hard as I could running down that last hill, though I couldn’t catch up with her.

My final time was 58:43 (I reported 58:33 on Facebook, but the results say :43). Yay for me. And thanks to the woman who pushed me and pulled me to the finish line.

Next goal: To hold a 10:00 per mile average in the See Jane Run half marathon in Seattle, July 14.

What’s next on your list? Be sure to keep me posted on your progress so I can celebrate with you!!