Red Cross 10k RR

running this was entirely my idea. and i'm still not sure if it was a good one..

here's how it all went down.

saturday morning we got up at 430 (yep that makes 2 saturday's in a row PRE 5am. that is wrong...) got our stuff together and drove about 80 minutes south. yes i did realize i was driving almost 4x as far as i would be running (time wise..) that little fact didnt really sink in.. but a little sports talk radio fixed all that.

after a little bit of confusion as to where to actually go, we saw some tents and a huge finish chute. must be the place. bobby (smartly after too many morning races with no spectator provisions) had brought a cooler of food. i too have upped my game day intelligence and brought a change of clothes. that was my best move of the day. (after sitting around logan last weekend smelling like river sludge... fresh stuff was oh so nice).

so - get number. warm up. right before heading to the start i chat with this guy-and not to stereotype (but i will) he was fast looking and had a kenyan flag hanging in his car. enough said. anyway i asked if the course was hilly and he said "not sure. i'm not from around here.". hmmmm

head to start. make my way toward the front and scope out the ladies. i see one wearing a "marathon.com" shirt who looks like the above guys sister.. lovely. i'll just go ahead and say she won it for the ladies.. there were some super FIT looking people out there. no surprise as the race was taking place near a very large military base in NC.

my strategy. get out and hang on.

BANG

first mile - i'm running comfortably hard. 2 girls (above mentioned and one more) shoot out ahead and my goal it to keep them in sight. i end up running the first 1/2 mile with an 8 year old and after checking my split, i wonder if that kid is some sort of phenom... (but later learned like so many, he went out WAY too fast). so mile one. rolling. nice. had a great split and was thinking.. hmm feeling good this is going to be a PR race for me. **insert something about chickens before they hatch**
we are humming along and have to make a right turn. UP. and UP some more and then it went UP. i said (out loud) are you kidding? anyway the hills just kept on coming. lovely to run down one and lose all your momentum in a turn around. i some how missed mile marker 2 and 4 so not sure of the splits. i did notice that this race had ads along the way. guess bright colors and pretty pictures still grab my attention.
so my thought - besides OH LORD this HURTS- was to jsut keep my head up and get going. work to pass anyone i could and not to slow down. mission mostly accomplished. i did get a little pissed when the guy i caught for the last mile was runing all over the course giving hi 5s. i almost b*tch slapped him, but couldnt actually get close enough. how the heck are you running all over creation when i'm dying to hold myself together? oh and some loser out sprinted me at the chute to beat me by 1 second. really? you just HAD to beat a girl?



here i am at the finish working my A$$ off still.

anyway great race. FS does a stand up job always. and how fast were these guys? top 3ran 33 minutes. up and down everest. thats impressive.

i somehow managed 3OA. mainly because i was running scared the whole time of people catching up.

clothes changed. car packed. back on the highway. home for a nap and then a fun night with some great ladies in chapel hill.

except for the fact my legs did not function all day sunday, lovely little saturday.