Recap: Tufts Health Plan 10k for Women

Yesterday, I took another break from marathon training to run the Tufts Health Plan 10k for Women.  This is my second year running the race and I have been looking forward to it all year.

This was a really good race. 

I woke up Monday morning not feeling the greatest.  So right then after assessing the situation, I decided that I would run but that I would make the day more about having "fun" than breaking any records -- I didn't think I had it in me.  When I got started running however, I felt good.  Around the 2nd mile I thought, "hey, I may be able to do this".

You see, for a year now my goal has been to race a 10k in under an hour.  I'm talking 59:59 or better.  After coming in at 1:01:04 at the BAA 10k back in June, this year's Tufts 10k was my last chance for the year.  I spent most of the summer thinking about it.

I decided that I would carry my water so that I could by pass the water stops.  This really helped shave a few minutes off but in the end what really hurt me was not keeping track of the time.  I had intended to bring my watch to keep track personally but forgot it at home.  The race clocks were really hard to see and I missed half of them which made it really hard to tell how I was tracking.

So my final time?... 01:00:00

Does that even happen!?  One second off of my goal.

There's so much to be said for what happened to that one second-- my spandex were bugging me the whole time...I may or may not have been posing for the cameras along the course, etc, etc.  Let's not dwell in the past... 

Even though I didn't make my goal, I say this was a really good race because I felt so strong.  I realized around mile 5.5 that I was going to finish the race without stopping once.  I have never raced without stopping.  I've definitely come a long way from last year's 1:07:44 finish!  That one second doesn't scare me.  What it boils down to is this girl will be running another 10k and Lord willing, smashing her goal next time!


http://www.tuftshealthplan.com/tufts10k/index.php

About the Race

I really appreciate how the race is organized and the energized atmosphere on race day.  It's really quite inspiring to run with 6,000 or so other women just celebrating being awesome.  This year the money raised from the race went to support The Family Van.  Here's a little blurb from the Tufts website that explains what that is:

"The Family Van provides compassionate curbside care in urban neighborhoods through its mobile clinics. The Family Van supports preventing screening, testing, and education for thousands of people each year."