Under an Hour: My First Sub-60 10K at a 6:00 Pace

Running · Published 9/24/2022 ·

I went to a get-together with some friends.

We ate, and by the time I’d driven back and parked, it was kind of an awkward hour.

Too early to just go to bed… so I figured I’d walk a bit to help things settle, and got ready.

Then I thought, well, if I’m putting on running shoes anyway, I might as well make it a 5K run.

But the moment I started running, all that undigested food was sloshing around uncomfortably in my stomach.

I could feel my stomach not settling at all — I even gagged a couple of times.

Yeah, running really is best on an empty stomach.

There’s a decent jogging course in my neighborhood. One lap comes out to roughly 1.4K, and it’s got a mix of downhills and uphills. It’s a good course for training, but not so great for long distances since you keep having to twist your ankles.

Ever since my ankles started bothering me, even taking the corners on the track feels like a strain.

I did three laps of the 1.4K course. I thought about stopping, but then I got a little greedy.

Alright, let’s round it out to 5K — and I pushed on a bit more.

I hit the 5K mark, and it had taken under 30 minutes? Wait. So if I keep going, I could come in under an hour?

I hesitated for a second, but then told myself to do one more lap.

And that turned into another lap, and another… by the end I was pumping my legs like crazy to come in under an hour.

In the end, I made it.

It was only by 11 seconds, but coming in under an hour means a lot.

In other words, a 10K at a 6:00 pace — done.

It bounced around a bit, but a 6:00 pace it is.

My heart rate log perfectly captured all that mental back-and-forth I was going through.

The reason I picked up the pace toward the end was that thought — hey, I might actually come in under an hour?

And in the end, I did.

It’s still been less than a year since I started running, and between injuries big and small, I’m doing cross-training on the side too.

The most important thing is, of course, body weight. And effort…

A 10K is something anyone can pull off regardless of age or weight, as long as you put in a bit of effort.

It’s a genuinely fun experience — more than you’d expect — so if you’re just getting into running, I hope you’ll build up little by little, step by step.

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