Mt. Sac 10k

My first 10k on the track was everything I thought it would be. Coming into the race I had some thoughts about running 25 long laps on the track. I knew it would be tough mentally more than anything and at some point, like every race, the physical pain would take its toll. The race started off pretty slow and before the race I had been dealing with some dizziness issues so already I was a bit negative. The dizziness was quite apparent when I couldn't run a straight line during the race and a few times coming around the curves I stepped into the inside of the track accidentally. It was a struggle from lap one to lap 25! We had a few very slow laps of 72-73 early then the pace started to pick up and I ended up coming through 5k around 14:40ish low. I kept fighting through my doubts and ended up passing a few people throughout the last 5k and I was able to maintain my form and not allow anyone to pass me or to be re passed by anyone I passed. At one point the pack began to separate and unfortunately, I was trapped behind a small pack so I was not able to respond to the first separation of the pack so then I ended up running solo till the end. In any other race running a few kilometers alone is ok but when you are running on a track for a few K alone its tough and you began to slow down dramatically. This experience of my first 10k on the track was not completely negative and in fact, the whole experience was bittersweet. I had some low points and I lost a little confidence because as most runners, I came into the race with higher hopes, but sometimes the boat don't float your way! So, what did I gain? I gained experience and confidence for the future. Now that I have run a 10k on the track I can run my next one much more aggressive and run a whole lot faster. I have a 12k coming up soon at a race which I ran about 37:19 last year. I was in horrible shape for the race so this year I know with the speed I have gained running track and also the strength that I have developed over this past few months that I will be able to get in the low 36 minute range. We will see soon....