Tufts 10k for women

I already had a pretty good proof time for Disney (has to be a 10k or longer). But the key word was "pretty good". I wanted better... I had to try for 'just one more'.
I signed up for the Tufts 10k for Women because 1. it was one of the only 10ks between now & the cut off date of Nov 1st. and 2. because there would be over 7,000 participants and I figured it would be a great practice run for the crowded Disney races.

The day was beautiful, about 63 degrees - just perfect for a race! We had to see ourselves at the start line. I joined the 10 min mile pace because I was hoping to finish as close to the 10 min mile mark as possible. It didn't really seem that crowded at that point, but once we got started, it was definitely crowded! They didn't stagger the corrals which would have probably helped with the crowding, so once the gun went off, everyone just kept moving towards the start line until, you got there and started off. I was probably about 4 'corrals' back from the start line and it took me about a minute to move up to the start and get going The first mile I was weaving in & out of people and I didn't end up stopping for a walking break because it was just too crowded.

The course was really nice & scenic. We started at the Boston common, went across the charles river on the Mass Ave bridge, then down & back on Memorial drive which was right along the river, then back over the bridge, through a historic distric and to the finish. There were water stops ever mile. Mostly flat - just one small hill around mile 3. Even though it was crowded, most of miles were around the 10:30 mark. At the halfway point - the 3.1 mile mark, I was expected to finish in about 1:02-1:03. But at mile 5 I hit a little bit of a wall and that mile was 11:00...ouch! I had to pull it together for the last mile... I wanted a PR and better proof time so badly. I pushed as hard as I could for that last 1.2 miles and finished in 1:06:08. However, my GPS tracked that it was actually 6.3 (not 6.2) so my 10k time was probably 1:05ish. My overall pace was 10:30 accourding to my GPS. But because the 'official' time tracked me at 1:06:04, they divided that by 6.2, which gave me a pace of 10:38. Still, that was 3 mins faster than my last 10k, which should give me a good enough time for good corral for Disney. At this point, I honestly don't know if I could have done any faster than that (maybe just 1-2 mins faster), so I am happy with that!! I do hope to keep improving and hopefully reach the 10 min mark for my 10k as well.

The thing I disliked the most was the start time. It didn't start until noon, but we had to leave our house at 8 am because they were closing off streets at like 9am and we wanted to make sure we got a parking spot in time. We didn't get home until after 3 pm so it made for a very long day! Because the race did not give finisher medals to everyone, I earned my Red Queen 10k medal. Huge bling for a PR!!