Baltimore 10 Miler

I ran 10 miler #2 in Baltimore this weekend!

First of all, what a PERFECT day for a race. The sun was shining, blue skies, it was warm, but not too hot. I heard 6,500 racers were around for the 5th annual Baltimore 10 Miler this Saturday! My biggest race to date?

It was also my most challenging race. I’ve participated in a 10 mile race before, but I knew from the start that this one would be super tough.

I signed up for this race for a variety of reasons: I wanted to race another 10-miler, I wanted to try a city/destination course, and I wanted the challenge. This course is the toughest part of the Baltimore Marathon…what better challenge (that’s relatively close to home) could I get?

Really…this spring has been an awesome running season. I still can’t believe how far I’ve come with running.

His running/fitness story is even more amazing. Maybe one of these days he’ll share it on the blog? 😉

After getting lined up by anticipated finish time (I learned later that our numbers were planned for wave start times. ha! I had no clue. I started in the second wave), we were off and running!

This is the first race I’ve been part of where I was never alone: there were always runners around me.
During other races, the crowd thins at times, and I’d spend a lot of time running solo. Not the case for the Baltimore race…but it wasn’t crazy-crowded either. It was actually nice to have a crew to run “with” for the race.

I chased the 1:35 pacers for most of the race (Gretchen and…Kara?). They were super enthusiastic. What a fun job. I’d love to be a pacer for a race in the future!

I felt good for the majority of this race. Since it was a new course, and I had new scenery to look at, the first half of the course flew by super fast. When I reached the entrance to Lake Montibello, I knew the turnaround was near.

I felt like it took forever to make it around the lake. It didn’t seem so large on the map! But it was pretty awesome being greeted by a live band at the halfway point. Great job, School of Rock band!

Headphones/earphones were discouraged for this race, but I kept mine on for the entire thing, with my music turned down pretty low. We ran through the city streets, but I think the police officers did a great job directing traffic and letting us pass.

I let myself walk through 2 water stations during the race around miles 6 and 8. Mile 5.5-6.5 was my toughest (and slowest)…I think because it was quite the climb! Fastest miles between 4 and 5 and then 9-10.

My last mile is almost always the fastest: the adrenaline of finishing strong hits me! Mile 9-10 was completed in 6:54…and it was a pretty steady incline…I’m psyched about that time!

Average pace was 9:30. I even PR’d this race! Finish time was 1:38:47 — 12 seconds faster than the Chestertown Tea Party 10 miler.

That I PR’d at all is amazing…this course was tough! I still managed to finish all smiles. I’m ready for the next race challenge!

And checkout the sweet race premium…this cool pullover jacket thingy. Not gonna lie…I rocked it for the rest of the day. I’m super proud that I ran this race!!

Another great race experience to add to the collection!