Race Report: Redondo Beach Super Bowl Sunday 10K

On Sunday, I ran the Redondo Beach Super Bowl Sunday 10K for the fifth time.  The fact that I've run this race five times is actually weird to me, since I barely remember doing it.  Especially not five times.  It probably has something to do with the fact that I first ran the race 12 years ago when I didn't train and I just wanted the shirt (which is really not a great shirt - Sorry, Redondo 10K, but it is true).  I'm pretty sure that the fact I can say I ran a race 12 years ago makes me old.

I didn't have any specific time goals or race plan other than to (1) beat my time from the Santa Monica Venice Christmas 10K (roughly 8 weeks ago) and (2) try and run a negative split.  I really wanted to do #1 because I didn't want to get beat by my 7-weeks-post-partum self.

The race itself was well-organized and went off without a hitch.  The weather was awesome, if not a bit warm, but I'd much rather run this race on a sunny day so I can fully appreciate the scenery on the course (which is really cool when you get down by the water).

The course advertises itself as "level" with two notable inclines/hills.  While that is a fair description, I would warn people that it is slightly more rolling than you might think.  Maybe I'm a wuss, but that is just my two cents.  Bottom line: it is definitely not flat.

The race start had a decent amount of bottlenecking and, despite telling myself that I wasn't going to do it this time, I spent a fair amount of energy weaving around people for the first mile.  I felt pretty good the whole race except for the third mile, when a bunch of people started passing me and I had a bit of an attitude problem.  I fell off pace a little bit and it ended up being my slowest mile of the race.  I was able to pick it up a bit over the last half of the course and ended up finishing in 48:41, almost 2 minutes faster than my Venice time.  Here's to not getting slower!

Enough about running.  The best part of this race is that Redondo 10K likes to kick off Super Bowl festivities early and boasts a post-race beer garden.  This year, included in your entry fee, was admission to the beer garden and 2 cans of Michelob Ultra.  Usually, I would not be at all excited about essentially paying $35 for two cans of what may be the worst beer on the planet.  At 9:30 a.m., no less.  However, when you are with friends and everyone is all gross and tired after running a 10K, it is somehow awesome.

Beer and Clif Bars. Breakfast of champions.

Happy Super Bowl Sunday and go Niners!

Official time: 48:41 (7:51 min/mile average)
Division place: 10/260
Overall place: 381/3191
Splits:
Mile 1 - 7:43
Mile 2 - 7:55
Mile 3 - 8:01
Mile 4 - 7:40
Mile 5 - 7:53
Mile 6 - 7:39
Last 0.2 - 6:08 min/mile pace