Wilma Rudolph 10K Race

Rhys always seems to know when I have plans to get up early because he will wake up every hour. Sure enough, he was up at 1:30 am, 2:30, 3:30, 4:30, 5:30 and we were up at 6 am.

Our race packet was actually quite nice. We had Avon samples, Arbonne samples, a t-shirt, pace chart, coupon for a massage and a lot of information. There was also coupons for runners ID bands...sorta like an dog tag.

We made it out there and there were not a lot of people, I knew in advance that less than 50 had registered. My running buddies were there and we tried to convince Samantha to run the 10K with us rather than hang out and wait 90 minutes for the 5K but she wouldn't do it.

We moseyed out to the start line, where I could hear perfectly fine in the back of the pack (which shows how small of a crowd was there) The gun went off and off we went. I figured I would be at the back of the pack and I was correct. Is it wrong for me to be thrilled to see people walking before the half mile mark? As long as they kept doing that, I knew I would not be the absolute last running in.

Before we hit a mile, Candi turned on her rocket boosters and she eventually finished about half a mile in front of me. I could tell Greg was wanting to move out even though he said he would stay with me. I told him to go ahead so once he turned past the first water station (about half a mile in front of me at that point) I never saw him or Rhys until I was at the finish line.

This was the first race I was in where the trail car was right by me and as long as they didn't offer me a ride, I figured I was okay.

It was about 71 out but very humid. The lower temperature made it much nicer and the rolling hills were not as bad as the evening we ran it last week (93 and 77% humidity that day)

About the 2.5 mile mark, there was a left turn to go do the 10K loop. Sure enough, as soon as I turned left, the lead runners were there going past the 5 mile mark. They all acknowledged me as they passed (since I was pretty much alone, people way in front and way behind me) and one guy told me I was looking good. Kind but I am well aware I am a penguin.

There were plenty of water stations with water and gatorade. At mile 6, there was a photographer (eek!) so I am sure I looked ravishing. You could see the finish line so I kicked it in and was telling myself to not be too disappointed to see it was over 1:20. Once I saw the clock, it was 1:17 so I really went faster and finished in 1:17:53 (I was off earlier and I think the official clock was off because it was changing from 49 to 50 when I crossed but oh well) Meredith, the race director took my number and Michelle, owner of the local running store, took my card.

While Michelle was filling out my info, she told me I was 3rd in my age group. Overall, I was 58/61 I wasn't last!

Then a volunteer and Michelle both scolded me for not taking any water at any of the stops. Now, in my training runs, I have not been carrying water. I generally have 2-3 bottles of water at the end though. If the temperature had been higher, I would have taken water but since it was not, I didn’t want to take any. I do have a water belt and will start running with it but I didn’t want to try it for the first time during a race.

Greg finished in 1:01 …he normally is right about 55:00 but with the stroller, he was off a bit. Looking at the results, I had 4 people come in after I did.

All in all, it was a fun race.