On May 29th, I ran the Civitans 10k as a way to see how much speed I had lost since running the Myrtle Beach Marathon. This way, I know what paces I might hit during the beginning stages of half marathon training for the Rock n Roll Brooklyn Half on October 14th.
I was 59 days into a run streak on race day so I had no clue what to expect. Most of my runs during this run streak were between 1-3 miles and at whatever pace felt good.
About a half mile into the race, I looked at my watch and it said 6:50 and I immediately though “oops, definitely going out way too fast!” If one thing is for sure, it is that I’ve lost my ability to feel out my race pace at the beginning stages of a race! I began backing off a little as mile 1 came to a close and hoped I didn’t do too much damage.
Mile 1 – 7:13
The next 2 miles were okay and I felt like I had a good stranglehold on my pace but could definitely tell I wasn’t acclimated to running in the humidity yet. It has definitely been a warmer than average spring.
Mile 2 – 7:41
Mile 3 – 7:35
Around mile 3, I began to feel significant pain in my heel from a blister that had formed the week before. I placed a band aid on it but it must’ve fallen off from all the sweat! Thanks again, humidity! The next few miles I just held pace and tried to ignore the pain as best I could.
Mile 4 – 7:47
Mile 5 – 7:46
After passing a girl after mile 5, I realized I was in 3rd place overall and I really wanted to hold that spot so I picked up the pace and pushed the pain from my heel out of my mind. I was so happy to see the finish line and quite nervous to look at my heel.
Mile 6 – 7:34
Last .2 – 1:44 (6:33 avg)
I ended up finishing the race in 47:23 for a 7:37 average pace for a 2:22 PR! I placed 3rd overall and 2nd in my age group. My award was a $10 gift certificate to a local running store! Yay! I was super happy with my effort and considering my bloody heel, lack of speed training, humidity, and tired legs from the run streak, I am very excited with where I am at for the start of half marathon training! I will again be using Hansons Method as I had such great success with it for Myrtle Beach!
Runthusiast 
Congrats on a great race and a pretty awesome time considering it was hot, you had the blister, and it was your first real race test since Myrtle. I bet you’ll do great in the half this Fall especially with cooler temperatures too! Love that you did the streak and are still posting a lot on Instagram and following you there 🙂