Looking for a race is pretty easy when you have a great site like active.com to guide you. Luckily, I found out that the city of Encinitas was holding their inaugural Cardiff Kook 10 on Superbowl Sunday. After last week's 5K Trail Run, a quick 3.5 miles on a hotel treadmill and the 10K at Miramar Lake on Friday, I was thinking that I could "easily" come in under 60 minutes. Logging into my Garmin Connect and pulling up my Cow Harbor Results, I set my goal at 55 minutes or if anything, beat my previous 10K record of 57:27.2. In all seriousness, being an official 2012 2XU Brand Ambassador, all my races this year have to be PRs! That's qualifies as SWAG right?!

It was a beautiful but chilly morning clocking in at 52F.  My breakfast consisted of Starbucks Perfect Oatmeal, a banana, a can of FRS and coffee.  My stomach was feeling okay but right before the race, it started to grumble a bit.  I arrived almost 30 minutes prior to the chip pickup, but the volunteers were early and ready to hand them out.  I pick up my Gemini timing chip, which I guess almost makes for zero waste but it wasn't my favorite.

I set out immediately at a great pace with everyone leaving me in the dust, but I knew that I was doing it right.  I clocked in at 8:52 for the first mile then a 9:02 for the second mile feeling great. Approaching the turn around point, the course itself got a little narrow and almost led to a speed walk so I took a picture of the great view! I still was able to clock 8:38 for mile three but I'll admit that it was a little downhill. Running along the PCH with waves breaking and the sun shinning...you couldn't ask for a better scenic route.

The way back would prove to be a little much at the past where the next two miles clocked in at 10 minutes a piece but I was still on pace. I would have to sprint the last mile but I felt like I was up for it. Unfortunately, I only had .2 in me and finished at an official tag time of 56:52.2. I was happy to make it a PR, but I have a lot of work ahead of me.

One of my friends, Brooks Butler, told me about doing some Tabata Intervals specifically "15:00 min warm up. 20 sec on. 10 sec off running for 10:00. As fast as you can set treadmill. Then 5:00 cool down." I have yet to do some crossfit this week and looks like I'll be out a whole week due to the yearly pilot tests and ground school that lie ahead but I can't wait for that next race!

The medals between the 5K and 10K weren't differentiated and but all in all, for a first time event, the turn out was high, the costumes awesome, the weather amazing and it made for a perfect start to Superbowl Sunday.

Here's one of the best costumes of the races and yes, he ran the 10K helmet and all!