What do you do when your friend sends you a text two days before a 10K race asking you to pace her? You enter the race and support her of course!

I’m not really one to jump into a race unprepared or last minute, but I love my friend Shelly and she’s got some great goals that I just know she will achieve! Her enthusiasm and love for running is contagious and it’s hard not to have fun and smile when you’re around her. She has even convinced her husband and two young sons to join in the running fun!

The Angel One 5K/10K is put on by the Angel One flight crew to raise money to help the families of the sick children they transport via helicopter to the Arkansas Children’s Hospital. Shelly is a surgical nurse at the hospital so it made it even more fitting to support her in this race.

Shelly’s goal was to break 50 minutes in the 10K. After the Micah Rine 5K my confidence was shaky at best, and in fact I had only one very sucky run on the treadmill on Monday that week and had taken the rest of the week off. Nevertheless, I felt like her goal was doable for both of us and would provide me a good tempo workout.

The weather was cool that morning but not cold. It was a little windy, but otherwise great conditions for racing. Our plan was to go out conservatively for the first half and run between an 8-8:10 pace. Then we would drop the pace to 7:50-7:55 for the remainder of the race.

The first mile I fought to hold us back. The 10K and the 5K are run together with the 5K runners splitting off just before 3 miles. This made it a little hard to gauge our place in the the race so I really tried to stay focused on our pace. We went through the first mile in 8:18, which was slower than I wanted but I wasn’t overly concerned and relieved we didn’t go out too fast.

During the next mile Shelly began to struggle and complain about her breathing. I was worried that she was sabotaging herself and doubting her ability to run that fast. I gently tried to pull her along. Mile 2 was an 8:55.

In the third mile we walked so Shelly could catch her breath. She shared that she had some recent health issues, but her doctor cleared her to run. I wasn’t sure how to proceed: keep pushing and pulling her or back off? I chose to encourage her and follow her lead as to what she needed from me.

We went through the 3rd mile in 9:09 and I knew breaking 50 wouldn’t happen. However, with the 5K runners now out of the race, I was fairly confident that we were the first two female runners in the 10K. I had this vision of seeing Shelly cross the finish line as the overall winner…how cool would that be?!!

Rachel, another runner, was coming up on us so I encouraged Shelly to pick up the pace and not get passed. She gave it her best effort and then surprised me when she told me to go on. She knows me well and knew my competitive juices were pumping. Rachel also encouraged me to go on assuring me she’d run with Shelly.

With Shelly’s blessing, I picked up the pace and the miles flew by. Running felt so much better than at the previous week’s Micah Rine 5K. My pace dropped between a 7:30 – 7:45. I was running faster in miles 4, 5 and 6 than I had run in mile 3 the previous week! The pace felt comfortably hard and I felt relaxed and in control. It felt really good to push the pace. With each mile my confidence grew.

In the final turn we rejoined the 5K runners running into a strong head wind for about a third of a mile. Not only did I have to fight the wind, but I had to navigate my way through slower runners and walkers, some of whom were running three and four abreast. My last three mile splits were 8:31, 7:42, and 7:56. I was first overall female in 51:29 and Shelly finished fourth place overall and 1st in her AG with a very respectable time of 54:39. (Official results and finish line video found here.)

This spur of the moment race really boosted my confidence and helped me set realistic expectations for my upcoming 10K races in November. I was really proud of Shelly for hanging in there, adjusting her expectations and finishing strong!