Year of Cardio - Karen's 10k

I have to admit that the actual RACES aren't the hardest part of the YOC, it's the training leading up to them.  Unlike Dennis, I need to train my running or else I simply cannot run.  

Studying my calendar and squeezing in runs and WODs and life in between has been the juggling act I've almost perfected, until that is, I start to lose motivation, or something like that. 

I wouldn't exactly call it motivation but more of a fear.  Fear of failure or even worse, fear of success.  I know myself and it's starting and I'm scared to both fail and succeed at the same time.  And as life would have it, I started to feel something paining in my knee, the day before my 10k race. 

Even with my bad attitude I got 99% of my training done for the 10k and I was hopeful to get a better time than last time I ran one (obviously) and possibly even beat Dennis' time.  So on a beautiful day in April I found myself at an abandoned jail waiting for the gun to go off.  

I started out FANTASTIC because you know, we were on a road and then after about a mile we started running into the woods.  On a single file path, with like 100 mini hills going up a mountain.  Mentally I was not in good shape.  I had zero idea this was a trail run and all my practicing had been on a road and relatively flat.  It was devastating.  

I ran until I couldn't run anymore.  So I walked when I had to and I ran when I felt like I could.  But I knew I was getting further and further away from setting any type of records for this run.  

The moment I was out of the woods (literally and figuratively) I ran and when I saw the finish line I pushed myself even harder.  

The final result? Let's just say if this was a true escape from prison, I would have gotten caught.  I finished 11 seconds faster than my last 10k and I was pretty upset with that. 

Official Time: 57:37
15/48 in Age Group
32/109 in Womens 
81/200 Overall

Despite the results, it overall was an amazing day to be outside and running, the views from the top of the mountain I eventually got to the top of was stunning and the event overall was fun, with photo ops, good food, and a really cool atmosphere.  I may redo this distance to improve, but I'm not 100% sure about that just yet.  On to the Baltimore 10 Miler in 7 weeks.