Hanover 10K Turkey Trot

Today Mark Chase and I braved the 10K Turkey Trot in Hanover. I've wanted to run this race for a long time, but I've never been in shape this late in the fall. After getting registered I did a warm-up that was just over 2 miles, then changed into my racing flats and did some strides on the Dartmouth Green. My plan was to tackle this like a long tempo run and be just under a 6:30 mpm pace. Well, the mile markers were not very accurate in the middle of the race, so I couldn't tell exactly what my splits were. I knew I was in the low 6:00 range by the way my body and stride felt. I settled into a really nice rhythm about 2 miles in and held it there until mile 5, at which point I had to summon everything I had to hold my pace. I finished in 38:37 (6:13 mpm) which was a personal best by a long shot. I am quite happy with the race, and remarkably, I had zero acute pain in my knees. The race was also a bit of a surprise, because I haven't really done any hard core workouts since before the marathon. I feel like I am in great shape right now, and I am really interested to see how this next training cycle pans out. Up next, a couple fast 5Ks then 2010 Boston Marathon training full speed ahead!