Women for Women 10K Run: A Strong Performance

Yesterday, I ran my first women only event.  The Women for Women 10K Run in Lake Worth, FL (near West Palm Beach).

I did not have any expectations with respect to this race, apart from just running it to the best of my ability.  I had already heard it was hilly and the temps have been consistently going up to the 80s and the heat is on in Miami already.  This is also the week I feel the most lazy and tired, so I thought I would be surprised if I ran it well.

Fortunately, the weather turned out to be good.  72-75F and 81% humidity.  Good enough.

Since this race is an hour from home, I had to wake up at 4:40am and be out the door by 5.  I arranged to pick up a girl I know from Daily Mile on the way and we had a nice time waking each other up on the way to West Palm.  We made it at around 6:20am.  Race started at 7am.

The race was really well organized.  It was a very small event celebrating women, so I never expected to receive a medal for finishing (pic below).  There were also wine glasses for the winners in each AG.  They were very pretty, so I'm sad I did not win anything.  Boo.

Although the race was well organized and it was a nice event, both courses were long and had no mile markers.  Those are the two bad things I could find about the race.  I'm not sure whether the long course had to do with the fact that they had to switch the course overnight for some issues, so they had to find the 10K an extra mile around the town.

While we waited, the photographer took a picture of me and my friend:


We lined up on the left side of the street, while the 5K girls lined up on the right side of the street.  Every woman I saw looked fast and loose so I knew I most likely not win a thing.  But I was OK with that.

Mile 1: We started off and immediately the 10K went left (directed by volunteers) while the 5K went up the hill we had a run around the area for 0.50 mile.  We turned around right back where we started and then headed to the bridge.  Pace: 8:27.  Here's a picture of it.  It does not look as daunting as in person:



Mile 2:  As we headed up and down the bridge, we arrived at the first water station.  The 2 water stations at Miles 2 and 4 had the best: hula boys!  I have not found a picture of the hula boys but guys of all ages were shirtless wearing hula skirts and dying to give us water.  It made the hill I just passed worth it...almost. Pace: 8:41.

Mile 3:  We headed back towards the beach and went over a smaller hill and then headed back to the hula boys at the base of the stupid hill above.  It was not my fastest mile but I rocked those two hills and the bridge twice.  We parted with the people doing the 5K and I should've known then this was not going to be well measured when the 5K split from us at 3.49 miles (they were 0.50 miles behind) and they still had around 0.20 to go.  Pace: 8:56.

Mile 4:  I'm still suffering from the hills so I took this mile as recovery.  I took some water at the water station (no hula boys, boo) and continued on.  The people closest to me was 100 meters ahead and 200 meters behind.  So I was pretty much all alone throughout this mile.  Pace: 8:56.

Mile 5: I was fully recovered from the hills so I turned on the turbo halfway through the mile.  Pretty soon, I passed the two ladies ahead of me (remember, at least at 100 meters ahead).  And I passed another lady.  Pace: 8:49.

Mile 6:  By now I can tell the course is long because the starting line is nowhere near me.  So, I continued pushing on and passing girls.  Nobody passed me and I passed a total of 7 women between miles 5 and 6.  Pace: 8:30.

0.37:  I see the downtown area and I turned left.  I know I still have at least 0.30 to go but I push on like it's a PR seeking event, LOL.  I looked at the Garmin when I crossed the 6.20 line and I see 53:54 so I technically PR'd on a hilly course.  I'm sure the next well-measured 10K will give me a new PR.  That's enough for me.  I crossed the finish line exactly at the time I crossed during last week's 10K (55:18), except that one was well measured.  Which means I raced better yesterday.  Pace: 8:00 (best pace here at 7:00mm!)

After I crossed the finish line, I receive an awesome medal by one of these 4 fightfighters:



It must've been my lucky day because I got mine from the guy on the left, which would've been my choice. 

Stats:
Official Time: 55:18
Overall: 47 out of 266
AG: 6 out of 37

I'm very happy with my performance.  This shows progress even from one month ago.

Thanks for reading.


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