Yesterday was the BAA 10K. I ran this event last year, and this year, was hoping to come in at around the hour mark.

That didn’t happen, but I did improve my time by 30 seconds.

I’m a little disappointed at the run though. If you read back to my recount of this run last year, you will know that my runner partner stopped for a bathroom break at the first mile.

Yup, that happened again. I decided to wait for her, and we would continue running. I like having someone next to me that can push the pace with me.

The thing is, I was pushing the pace. I am not used to that.

It was also RIDICULOUSLY HOT. Like, it was a hot 78 degrees when the run started at 8:00AM. It only got hotter and muggier. Stops at water stops were needed, or else I wasnt going to make it.

But a funny thing happened, I ran the WHOLE thing, including the stupid incline up BU West Campus. I trained, I put the miles in. 

At no point in the race did I feel like I was running as fast as I could, and if I could run it again, I would at least pick up the pace a little bit more, after my running partner stopped unexpectedly to walk.

However, another thing started to play a role around mile 4 – the outside of my knee started KILLING me.  Looking back, I was dodging people for most of the run, so I might have side stepped the wrong way, at a wrong angle and strained my IT band (which is what it feels like). Plenty of rest and icing will be happening today, and maybe i;ll go for a short run tomorrow, just to see if it still bothers me. I want to do a yoga class tonight to see if it can stretch and make my IT band feel better.

All in all – the 10K was a good run, I beat my time from last year, which means I’m improving. It was an emotional run, as it was the first BAA event after the Boston Marathon, and I definitely cried when 7,000 runners started singing the national anthem. The crowd that came out to cheer us along Comm Ave and around the Public Garden was amazing, and again almost made me cry. BAA prints your name on your bib – so the amount of people that were screaming your name during the final stretch was amazing. Made me feel like a rockstar.

But enough rambling. It was a good run, could have been better, and now i’m resting my knee and IT band, and hopefully I’ll be right back at it soon!