Ramble Redux

So I had a nice uneventful week heading into the yesterday's ramble.  And my limited 10k training paid off with a decent, though unspectacular, time.  I'm going to go with my strava/gps time, since it is faster, of 44:03 -  7:03 pace.  Although, that should be a 7:06 pace if the distance was accurate.  Anyway - the race started out well.  My goal was to run about 7:10 the first 2 miles and pick it up.  Of course, I went out to fast - aided by a net downhill 6:53 and 7:04.  I tried to keep the pace dialed back a bit for the next two: 7:07 and 7:25 - probably a little too slow on that 4th mile.  It was the mile with the most, albiet small, uphill portions.  Nevertheless, I managed to have some gas left in the tank for the last two - which was my main goal - and did 6:50 and 7:00 the last two miles.  So pretty good - the 5th and 6th miles were my 1st and 3rd fastest of the race.  I wrote last week that the goal was maybe 7:10 - and I managed that.  A little off the battlegreen 10k from 18 months ago -  but not a crash and burn race.

The pacing does give me some confidence going into next fall's half.  I think I should be capable of doing something in the 7:30 or below - if I can pick a decent course (maybe bay state?).  About a month until the track mile.  Hopefully there, I can set a PR.  One potential problem may be the heat.  We were pretty lucky last year - but early June may be a bit rough.  We'll see.