She Runs by the Seashore

My fastest race “since 2019” has been a trend lately — clearly, I had a good year that year (and then we all know what happened in 2020). After running my fastest 5K since 2019 this July, I was happy to add to that by running my fastest 10K since 2019 at the Mike Sterling 10K in Crisfield.

I kicked off Labor Day Weekend on Saturday, Sept. 2, by heading to Crisfield for my 12th annual Mike Sterling 10K. Diana and I drove down together after driving down to Crisfield the previous day to pick up our race packets.

We had a large group from the Eastern Shore Running Club participating, and the weather was the coolest it had been in a while. The race has been going on for more than 40 years, but of the 12 years I’ve participated, I thought this year had the best weather. Temps were in the 60s, and the humidity was not oppressive. I took a screen shot of the weather after the race, and even afterward, it was 69 degrees with a dew point of only 58.

The reason my 2019 times are harder for me to beat is because they’re much faster than I’ve been able to run lately — my fastest 10K time of that year was 57:07. However, the time to beat for this one was my time at last year’s Bay Bridge Run of 1:02:37, a few seconds over a 10:00/mile pace.

I was able to do it, taking two minutes off that 2022 time and running a time of 1:00:33 — an average 9:46/mile pace. Although it would have been nice to come in under an hour, I was really pleased with my time and performance.

I ran the first mile in 9:09. While I realized that I did start out too fast, I also liked the extra cushion. I knew that I’d beat my 2022 time if I kept all my miles under an average 10:00 pace, and now I’d banked almost a minute. I was able to run the next two miles on this flat course in 9:46 and 9:39. I did stop at each water stop, and by Mile 4, I’d dropped the pace slightly to 10:07, with the next mile following in 10:18, but I knew I had enough of a cushion to meet my goal. At the first water stop was Trent and one of his kids, and he’d encouraged people to wear gear from Algonquin Ultras races for the chance to win a prize package. I wore my Tuckahoe 25K visor, but did not win the prize.

Around Mile 4, Janet came up from behind me and said she’d been chasing me, and then she seemingly took off and was able to finish under an hour (this was impressive, not bad). I wasn’t able to keep up with her, but was happy to cross the finish line with my last full mile in 9:42. It is helpful to know the course well, having run it 12 times.

I was able to finish this race in a much faster pace than I’ve been running — the weather and race-day adrenaline were super helpful. I also wore my Brooks Hyperion Max (gifted), which I’ve been loving for races, and a Pen & Paces Yell My Name Race Bib Topper Kit that I received for free through BibRave. I was able to spell out my first name on a separate bib piece so people could cheer for me.

This race is a small-town race, and a decent amount of people who would have cheered already would have known who I was anyway, but I’m looking forward to trying it out at a larger race.

There are always awesome door prizes at the Mike Sterling 10K (such as running shoes from VP Shoes, a bushel of crabs, crab meat and Smith Island Cake), but I wasn’t a winner this year. Even though the awards were extended to three places per age group instead of two, I didn’t earn one of those either, because I placed fourth in my age group. However, in the first year with new race directors Heather and Keith, who continued the legacy of those before them, I had an amazing race experience and was really happy and encouraged about my progress in getting faster.

I signed up early, so it was only $25, and participants received a T-shirt, stickers and, since I picked my packet up early, a free bowl from Playa Bowls.

If you’re interested in running this race in the future, there’s also a whole weekend of National Hard Crab Derby festivities to check out. Learn more here.

Splits

Mile 1: 9:09
Mile 2: 9:46
Mile 3: 9:39
Mile 4: 10:07
Mile 5: 10:18
Mile 6: 9:42
Last part (.2): 1:46 (8:58 pace)

Total: 1:00:31 / 9:46 pace; total on results: 1:00:33 / 9:46 pace

Read my BibRave review — and write your own — here.