As opposed to that fake one a couple weeks ago.

I ran a 10K on Sunday. It was a challenging course; one I’ve done many times before. In fact, just a week prior we did a test run.

The weekend before the race was a humid, rainy day. Not the best conditions to run a hilly course! But we did it, and I felt pretty good. We took a few walk breaks, and ended up finishing just over an hour.

My running buddy was thrilled since she hadn’t been that fast in a while. We planned to run the race together as well. Her 10K record for this course went back to 2004, 59:22. My best time for this course was in 2005, at 59:09.

My fastest 10K ever, also in 2005, was 57:36. I joked with her that we wouldn’t be trying to beat that one. We’d both have been quite happy under an hour.

I used to consistently finish 10Ks under the 60-minute mark. But the last time I did that was June 2006, at 59:54.

That was a month before I started running with orthotic inserts to try to help with knee and foot problems I’d been having.

I have been blaming the orthotics on my slightly slower pace, but I didn’t fully believe it. Maybe I was just getting slower as I got older?

Maybe it has just taken over two years for my body to adjust.

That recent 5K would probably have broken a record, had the course been long enough. I finished a 5-mile race earlier this month about 35 seconds slower than my fastest from 2005, but 4-5 minutes faster than my 5-mile runs since then.

And the 10K on Sunday?

57:26.

I beat my previous record by 10 seconds!