First off, I am definitley not complaining about the summer temps last week since many of us finished one of longest winters ever. In fact, I believe we skipped spring and had an extended winter.
None the less, yesterday I ran a 10K for a specific cause. I don’t know about you, but I never will understand why children get cancer or face other health challenges. The last time I ran a race for a specific charity was with Shaklee Cares. In both cases, the weather didn’t exactly cooperate but they are both charities I truly believe in.
DID YOU KNOW…..
Your running pace is affected as the temperature rises. At 60 degrees, running pace is influenced by a 2- to 3-percent increase, so an average 8-minute mile pace jumps to 8:12 per mile. At 80 degrees, the effect is between 12 to 15 percent, so that mile pace becomes about 9:06.
If you want to read more about how the heat and humidity affects your race times, you may enjoy this article.
This was definitley the case yesterday. I am closer to a 8:35 pace now and realistically should expect to run at least a minute per mile slower in temps like we had yesterday. I did exceed that but was no where near the pace I am capable of running in cooler weather. But I didn’t intend to race?….yeah for good decisions.
It was close to 90 degrees F at the start of the Hope For Kids 5/10K run. To be perfectly honest with you, my husband and I had a brief chat about me skipping the 10K since it was close to 70 degrees at 5:30 am. But because we were geared up for a fun day which started with the race, then brunch, and finally joining a few of Rob’s co-workers at a very special Lynx game, we ventured down the highway.
However, it was definitley HOT. I did a few strides and a warm up before the race and it immediately became more apparent that this wasn’t going to be a fast 10K…for anyone.
To make a long story short…we had a fun day but I have to admit, that was one of the hottest (and slowest) 10K races I have ran. I definitley earned my favorite post run treat….a pastry at Bachelor Farmer Cafe. It is not too often I get place first in my age group, but I am thinking most of the fast runners were at home in front of their air conditioners watching a good movie?.
Here is one last photo of me about 30 minutes after the race…..As you can see, I am still red faced.
Have you recently ran a race in the heat?
How many times have you run a race verses raced….due to the weather?
Do you support a specific charity?
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