After my disappointing performance in the Great Aloha Run, I was worried about how I’d do in the Ford Island Bridge 10K. This is the second time I’ve run this race and last year I struggled through it mightily.

It appears I didn’t need to worry.

The day started off with rain. A lot of it. So much of it I was worried that the roads this race follows would be slick and not fit for running. But it ended up being fine and mostly quite cool (if windy) this morning.

Interestingly, I followed largely the same strategy I did in the GAR–a couple of miles of warm up with a heart rate below 147, then upping the heart rate to about 155 all the way until the last mile plus two tenths were left. At that point I’d go all the way up to 165–no choice, really, since much of that last mile is uphill–and once I could see the finish (yes, actually see it), I’d sprint.

To give you some idea of how I’ve struggled recently and with this run in particular, last year, following an attack of gouty arthritis, my pace for this run was an anemic 13:22; at the GAR last month it was an almost identical 13:23.

Yet today, running the same race I struggled through at a 13:22 clip last year, using the same strategy which resulted in a 13:23 pace in last month’s GAR, I ended up finishing at a pace of 12:13.

How and why I broke through all of that I don’t know. But I’ll take it.

And of course, I was blessed with the company and support of a bunch of my fellow Team Twitter athletes. Go Team Twitter!

Next stop: Haleiwa Metric Century
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