040509 - Cherry Blossom 10 Miler

Checked off another PR this morning.  I ran in the Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Road Race and the day could not have been better.  The weather was around the mid 40s and warmed up as the race went on.  I got to the race around 7:20 and did some light running and stretching to get prepped.  I needed to wait to get in my corral because I was too late to be let in.  Fortunately, after the first wave went off, they let the red wave move up and I was able to get into the back of that wave.  My start felt good, but it was really crowded and hard to move forward.  I carefully moved my way up in the pack and really put the bobbing and weaving skills to work.  My HR was tracking around 160 for the first 1-2 miles.  I missed the first two mile markers so I had no idea what my pace was.  I made a decision to just watch my HR and forget about pace.  I moved my HR up in the high 160s and kept it between that and 173 for the rest of the race.  My average HR ended up being 169 and I finished just under 1:12.  I was really happy with the way I felt and I definitely ran hard for the entire run.  I was not sure how I would do with my HR that high for over an hour, but I learned that I was able to sustain it.  I got a bit tired toward the end, but once I hit the 8 mile marker I really pushed it for the last two.  I think I ran the last mile at just over 6 minutes.