Date: May 16, 2026
Distance: 10 mile
Location: Minnehaha Falls, Minneapolis, MN
Finish Time: 1:31:05 (9:06/mile)
I signed up for the Women Run the Cities 10 Mile because several of my Moms on the Run friends were doing it, and it seemed like good timing to push myself in a race before Grandma’s Half Marathon. I have run Women Run the Cities a couple of times in the past, and it is such a fun event. There is something amazing about seeing a course full of women, especially when you get to experience it with friends.
My training had been going really well, and I came into the race feeling confident. A few weeks earlier, I had run the Get in Gear Half Marathon at an 8:41 pace. It was borderline cold the day of the half, everything clicked, and it gave me a lot of confidence in my fitness. Based on that result, averaging 8:30s for ten miles felt completely realistic.
The night before the race, my parents were staying with us, so we all went to Pizza Pub for dinner. I had my usual black olive pizza and a Mich Golden Light. I slept fine and ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich before the race.
I wore my new pink Moms on the Run singlet, running shorts, Goodr sunglasses, and my Shokz headphones. The singlet was nice and thin, which ended up being helpful because it got hot fast. I carried two liquid Gus in my shorts and planned to use both during the race.
I rode to the race with my Moms on the Run group, which made the morning more fun. I also met up with my friend Cristina, who was running the 10k, her first race in a long time.
Although I came with my group, I intentionally started the race alone because they planned to run together at a slightly slower pace. I wanted to see what I could do.
The race started at Minnehaha Falls Regional Park in Minneapolis. It was around 60 degrees near the start, and I did not think the heat would affect me too much over ten miles. That assumption was very wrong.
My goal was to average around 8:30 pace. The opening section had a pretty quick downhill, and my first mile came in at 8:13. Mile two was 8:17.
I knew I was running faster than planned, but the pace felt good. Based on Get in Gear and how training had been going, I thought I might be able to settle in and gut it out.
Miles three and four were 8:28 and 8:31, right around goal pace. At that point, I still felt like I was on track. Mile five slowed to 8:58, but mile six came back at 8:50.
Then the course and the weather caught up with me.
It got hot and sunny very quickly. By the time we were well into the race, it felt like it had to be close to 80 degrees. I had not expected the heat to hit me quite so hard. The course also seemed determined to hit every hill in the area. We had the hills leading toward St. Thomas and all the rolling hills along the river. Once my heart rate climbed on those hills, I could not get it to come back down.
The water stops felt very spread out, maybe every three miles or so. I took water at every station, but by then I was hot and constantly wishing there were more of them. I took my liquid Gus at approximately miles three and six, earlier than I had originally planned. I was glad I had brought liquid fuel because it gave me something between the widely spaced water stops, I don’t know if I would have been able to swallow a thick Gu.
The hill leading up toward St. Thomas was where things really started to fall apart. I had to power walk part of it, and after that I never fully recovered. Mile seven was 9:25, followed by 9:53, 9:50, and 10:00.
With about three miles left, I made the decision to stop trying to force the original pace and focus on getting through the race. I switched into a finish-only mindset, although I kept secretly testing the pace to see if my body might suddenly come back, which it clearly did not.
My heart rate still felt too high, the hills had taken a lot out of me, and I ended up taking a few walk breaks during the final mile or so. I crossed the line in 1:31:05, an average pace of 9:06 per mile.
I was relieved to finish, but once I stopped, I also felt a little bummed. I felt like I had so much more in me than what I had been able to show that day. At the same time, I knew this race was not really comparable to Get in Gear. Get in Gear had cool weather and was one of those days when everything worked. Women Run the Cities was hot, sunny, hilly, and not a type of heat I had adjusted to yet.
I am very glad Get in Gear happened first. If this had been my big confidence-building race before Grandma’s, I might have walked away questioning my training. Instead, I already knew what my fitness looked like.
This was also still a significant improvement over the Twin Cities 10 Mile in October. I ran that race in 1:35:49, around a 9:28 pace based on my watch. Even on a day when the second half got away from me, I took almost five minutes off my ten-mile time.
After finishing, I found Cristina and got to celebrate her 10K. I was so proud of her for getting back out there and racing again. We watched the rest of the Moms on the Run group finish, then went to find food and sit around chatting.
The finish area was really fun, although there were no vegetarian food options, so I was extremely hungry. They were also giving away free flowers and plants, which was a huge hit. They ran out right as most of our group got to the front, but several people still managed to leave with plants. Stephanie somehow walked away from the race carrying a giant fern.
Once I left, the day did not exactly slow down to recover. I stopped at Cub for groceries and we grilled burgers and hot dogs for lunch. Miles and I ran errands, ordered donuts for his party, and picked up some party favors and other things.
Later, we went to the neighbors’ house, where the kids played on their bouncy water slide and fished in the pond. My parents went to pick up a new bike for Hailey since the one we had bought at a garage sale was not the best fit for her. We grilled steaks for dinner, had Carol’s for dessert, and then Hailey and I went for a little bike ride before bed. Honestly, I felt fine. I was not overly tired, and I did not feel wrecked later that day or over the next few days.
Looking back, I do not think I would change much. I went for the goal, and I did not get it. I could say I should have started more conservatively, but I also understand why I went out confidently. The pace felt realistic based on my training and recent racing, and I wanted to see what I could do. What I am most proud of is that I did not get so discouraged when the race stopped going my way. I adjusted, finished, and still enjoyed the day with my friends. I did not let one hard race convince me that my training had suddenly disappeared.
Going into Grandma’s, I am treating this as a training run and mostly ignoring it as a predictor. My other training runs, along with Get in Gear, still show that I am capable of running well and potentially matching that half-marathon result.
This race was hot, hilly, and harder than it looked on paper. It was not the race I hoped to run, but it was still a good day, a big improvement over October, and a reminder that one difficult morning does not get to erase months of good training. I would absolutely run Women Run the Cities again, especially with friends. Hopefully next time with slightly cooler weather, a few more water stops, and enough plants for everyone.
