Columbia Winery 10K Charity Run & Walk

On Saturday, August 16, I raced in the Columbia Winery 10K, benefiting Seattle Children's Hospital. It was a somewhat last minute decision, but my Bellingham Bay Half Marathon training plan called for a 10K on Saturday, and it seemed like fun, so why not?

I think this was my first run using my new name!

I woke up around 6am on Saturday morning to eat a banana, but I didn't need much because I had demolished a cheesecake the night before. For real. It was glorious and I regret nothing.

I headed over to the race at 7:30- it was 20 minutes away, and I took the back roads - and realized this was near where I normally ran, on the Sammamish River Trail! Plus I got giddy thinking about all these wineries that are 20 minutes away from me. I never knew!

I arrived right at 7:50 and sat in my car for 10 minutes, as the race didn't start until 8:30. At 8, I walked over to registration to check in and get my gear, traded in my medium shirt for a small (and it was still huge), and jogged back to my car to drop off my stuff. I also put the timing chip they provided on my shoe, which was a different model than I was used to - it was a hard plastic and had to be attached by zip ties, and we had to return it after the race lest we pay a $30 fine.

The start line

I meandered over to the start line and waited for the gun to go off. The announcer was really funny, and he made the time pass by quickly. I queued up the running playlist I had prepared and before we knew it, we were off!

I created the playlist with one thing in mind - keeping my pace consistent, around 180 steps per minute. So, I was looking for songs with a 180 BPM (hard to find), or a 90 BPM, which I would just run to double-time. So, you can see that some of the songs didn't fit either of this category (re: "Runaway Baby", "What You Waiting For?", and "Everything is AWESOME") - but that was because the songs were generally upbeat and gave me a little boost of energy anyways.

I strategically put Thrift Shop at the end because I knew it got my blood pumping, but other than that I didn't really have a reason for putting the songs in the order that I did. I started with The Reason by Hoobastank because it was kind of mellow and I tend to go out fast, but I think I need to put another not-quite 180/90 BPM song after that because I sped up a lot the second mile because of the songs that followed.

Anyways!

Before the race, I was feeling pretty good! Ready to get started and glad that it was a little overcast, but still beautiful. I wasn't hungry and I didn't need to use the bathroom, so all good things!

(from the Columbia Winery Facebook Page) - this was the start line. We would finish from the other side!

I didn't take any pictures of the course, but it was gorgeous - it started on a road, and then went onto the Sammamish River Trail, with which I am very familiar.

I was happy the 10K wasn't an out-and-back, but I didn't realize exactly how long the turn around point was for the 10K- and was pretty upset when I noticed that the people running in the opposite direction were a part of the race I was in. It's always discouraging in a race (especially because I run out-and-backs for my training runs all the time!) to know that you have to turn around and run the exact same road that you are running.

There was a 1 mile marker, but that was pretty much it - and I'm pretty sure that was for the 5K. I had turned off my vocal feedback on Nike+ (a good thing, I think) so I had no idea how long we had to go or how much farther we had to run. At the turnaround point, however, I did notice a small "5" taped to the trail, so I guess I just hadn't been on the edge of the trail for the rest of the race to notice the other mile markers.

On the way back, I saw someone wearing a Nike Women's Marathon Finisher shirt as well! As I passed her, I pointed to my shoulder and made a face and she noticed and pointed back and we had a moment and those kinds of moments are why I kind of love races.

I was tailing a couple of women on the last stretch but ended up passing them as I surged towards the end - I was really giving it my all and didn't really have that much left in the tank when I crossed the finish line, but my goal was under 55 minutes and I surpassed it by ending in 53:31!

It's actually kind of hilarious because for the Turkey Trot, I wanted to get under 25 minutes but surpassed it by getting 23:31. Isn't that funny how it was so similar?

The last mile was the fastest! But, see how much I speed up in the second mile? I need to get that under control.

Now I'm kind of worried for this Saturday, the Seattle Marathon 10K - I don't think I'll do as well because I'm still kind of fatigued, but oh well. At least I did well in this race? My goal, still, is under 55 minutes - and I'll switch around my playlist to see if that helps keep my pace more consistent... we shall see!