Hello!

I’m Sarah Mac. I’m a writer, mom, runner. This is my original running blog, Running Starfish, started in 2009 to chronicle my first (and supposed to be last) marathon, all the way through qualifying for the 2016 Olympic Trials Marathon.

My First 10k

According to my half marathon training plan, I had a choice on Sunday: do a 10k race or a 16 mile run. I opted for the race. I wanted to see where I was at after training for 9 weeks.

I've never raced a 10k before so I wasn't sure what to expect. I didn't taper, I didn't plan my pace, I didn't really even know how to warm up. I Googled "10k warm up" while waiting in my car near the start. I guess I wasn't sure if it was like a 5k or not. It is. Pretty much just like a 5k, twice.

This is a good thing for me. I only have a couple gears. 5k is about as fast as I can get going these days, but I can hold on for awhile. In what I call "the pain place". The pain place face is clearly visible in all of my race day photos. They only took photos at about mile 5.25. Ouch.


I finished in a time of 36:24. I went out in 5:46, which was a little too fast, but not destructive. I had to talk myself into my own race after watching the first woman drift away from me. I get unreasonably competitive. But I reminded myself it was about getting the work done, and this wasn't the race I was going to lay it all out. I laid 99.8% out for sure, but ya know not the black out kind of finish.

I was happy with the effort, time and place. Sarah and I cheers our tiny 2nd place trophies. And then it was off to Oiselle to package Rundies.

There is a reason for this TOTAL cheeseball picture. But that's a story for another day.

How to Propose to a Runner

Smile with your Eyes