Yeah! Another PR for me.

I was pretty optimistic I would be able to PR in today’s Alaska 10K Classic Road Race, but I also didn’t want to get over-confident.

Thankfully my legs were able to squeak out a PR in the midst of an 80-mile week.

With this PR now in the books, this means I have PRed in the following events all within the past 2.5 months.

5K (Bear Paw 5K) – 19:41

10K (Alaska 10K Classic) – 41:49

Half-marathon (Trent/Waldron Glacier Half-marathon) – 1:31:49

Marathon (Grandma’s Marathon) – 3:26:34

Hip, hip, hooray! All my hard work is paying off. This makes me very happy.

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Me getting ready to warm up and giving my husband the look of, “do you really have to take another picture of me?” (Actually, it is really cute; he’s my paparazzi.)

We got to the race about 30 minutes before the start. This wasn’t quite enough time for me to fully warm-up. I could have used an extra 10 minutes—or the time it took me to wait in line for a port-a-potty. (Grrr. . .oh well, I know this was relatively a short wait.)

If I am racing any distance that is a half-marathon or less, I start by jogging for 8-10 minutes—or about one mile.

After my muscles feel warm, I do some static stretching for about 10 minutes. Next it is time for some dynamic stretches: high knees, butt kickers, karaoke, skips, etc.

And then it is time to strip down to the clothes I’m actually going to race in. I always wear more clothes when I warm-up so that my muscles will be truly warm at the start.

Jogging to the start.

Then at the start line, I like to do a few accelerations to make sure my muscles are ready to run fast!

I am actually walking in this picture.

And before long, we’re off.

If you are interested in checking out my competition, you can see the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place women runners in this photo: #522 (yellow tank top) was the winner in 35:52, #247 (blue top, black arm warmers) was second in 36:57, and the girl in the hot pink shorts (white arm warmers) was third place in 38:07. I see these ladies at pretty much every race I run, and they are fast!

Bonus points if you can spot me. Look for the bring yellow shorts and pink sports bra off to the right.

There I am. . . .

Overall, the race went well for me. My legs didn’t feel super tired, but they were super fresh either. I mostly just wanted to PR, so I knew I needed to keep my pace under 7:15 minutes/mile.

This is me at mile 3.

And this is at mile 4.5 or so. (I don’t really remember.)

Coming down the homestretch.

Official time: 41:49.

Official Race Stats

Distance: 6.2 miles (10K)

Time: 41:49

Average pace: 6:44 minutes/mile

Overall place: 45/386

Women’s place: 9th/225

Age group place: 4th/55

And just for comparison. . .

My Garmin Stats

Distance: 6.05 miles

Time: 41:50

Average pace: 6:55 minutes/mile

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Still huffin’ and puffin’ after being done.

Done! (But actually I still had 13 miles to go in order to finish up my long run for the day.)

And KTUU Channel 11 interviewing the men’s winner on the right.

Craig only took this picture of me to get a picture of the Taco Bell mascot. Taco Bell is Craig’s favorite fast food restaurant—and the only one he goes to. He hates McDonald’s but can’t break the Taco Bell habit.

After the race, I finished up my long run and got in 20 miles for the day. I was tired by the time I was done!

Total for the day: 20 miles

Time: 2:38

Average pace: 7:54 minutes/mile