Herndon Festival 10K - Zach's first 10k ever!

On Sunday, June 1, 2014, Zach (age 9) ran his first 10k at the Herndon Festival.  The race course looked to be a tad challenging for a first timer like Zach, but we were out to have fun.  He was a tad nervous, and I was dealing with hamstring/back issue that had prevented me from running the Pittsburgh Marathon a month earlier.  Not to mention Achilles issues which most likely were caused by the change in gait when running with the injury.  Anyhey,  after multiple stops to the bathroom and a couple of national anthems, we line up for the 10k.  I told Zach that this was double the 5k so take it out slower than usual...of course the first mile is a 9:04 which is faster than I thought he would take it but looking back, it was just about right.  The first couple of miles looped us through the Herndon Festival area that was actually not open at the time.  Either way, mile two was about 50 seconds slower, a 9:52....Mile three, he started to have issues with his right foot and felt the top of his foot start hurting so we slowed it down more to the point where we actually stopped.  Mile 3 was a 10:03...The overall goal here was a sub 60 minute 10k...it was ambitious but not out of reach.  Mile 4 we really started to slow down, and I knew these would be his toughest miles (4 and 5)...Mile 4 was a 10:45 and Mile 5 was a 10:54 plus they had some nice rollers...He was talking the whole way and I knew this was not as hard as he could run but didn't really push him since he had not run this distance before..Miles 5 to 6 was a 9:27,  but it was a little to late as he finished with a 1:02:46.  Great job but I think he really wanted to a sub 60 minute run...The first thing he said when we finished was, can we do another one?  Of course, I said yeah!  Looking at the final results - he got 183-271 overall, and 3rd out of 5 in the 1-10 group...Tough first 10k for big Zach and he was happy with his finish....here is a quick pic of me and the boys before the race.

  Meanwhile Nic and Heather ran the 5K portion of the race which started after the 10K.  It was hillier than expected, but Nic was a beast.  He powered up all of the hills and started really passing lots of people in the last mile.  He ended up with a huge PR at 28:44.  I think it was all of the soccer.  He was super happy, and then we waited for Zach to come in.

Nic holding the sign and waiting to cheer Zach in.

1st 10K and 5K PR

Awesome finish for Zach!!!

 We are so proud of Zach for training hard through some crazy weather for the 10K.  He was supposed to debut at the 10K at the Manassas Runway 10K, and his training had peaked perfectly for that.   Unfortunately, he got a concussion the day before the race while playing baseball so we had to find a new race. 

Zach and mom getting some miles in during a March snowstorm!

Zach doing his first Battlefield loop...5.5 mile training run!