10k By the Bay Recap

On Saturday, I ran in my first 10k.

I woke up to a wet and cold morning.  I was so warm in my bed when my alarm went off. I laid there trying to figure out why I paid $30 to get up and run in these conditions?  Who does this?  Oh, yeah, just us runners.

Up until the late morning on Friday, I was running in this race alone.  I was thrilled when Elaine sent me a message, saying she was going to join me.  Hooray!!!

I drove.  Parking was easy and we had plenty of time before the race.  Elaine had to register and I just had to pick up my number. We got our shirts, and then sat in the car to stay warm.  One last potty stop, and then we were lined up ready to go.

This was a 10k and a 5k run and walk.  It was a pretty small race.  There were 92 people running the 10k and less than 50 doing the 5k.

The weather forecast was showers and cold.  My least favorite running conditions.  When we lined up, it wasn't even drizzling.

Before the race.

I knew I had gone out too fast once again, but even though I did, so many people were passing me.  My first mile was 9:31.

Elaine had a goal of her own and she was gone pretty quickly.  Once we were out of the first mile, I was running alone.  I could hear people behind me and see people in front of me.  When I had looked at the map of the course, it had a ton of twists and turns. I was a little nervous that I would get lost.  I have to say it was very well marked with flaggers and the best thing about that was they used American Flags instead of the bright orange ones.  I thought that was really cool!

Mile two was in the woods.  It was a paved trail and it was really cool.  It was a loop and you could see the water for a short time.  It was here that 7 people passed me.  First it was three women and then 4 more after them.  They all seemed to know each other and I tried to stay with them but found it difficult. They were so in-tuned with each other and I was guessing they ran together frequently.

I wondered if Beth and I looked like this and than I got mad that I couldn't keep up with them.  They were not going much faster than me.  Mile three was my slowest, 10:57. However, when I hit the 5k point, it was at 32:25 and that would have been a new 5k PR. Why didn't I run the 5k?  LOL

Mile four, things got interesting.  I passed a man tying his shoe.  No big deal right?  Well, than he passed me and when I caught up to him, he was tying his shoe again.  Then, he was on the side of the road for a third time tying his shoe.  Really?!  Why did he not double knot at this point?

When we hit mile 5, the flagger was yelling out our times.  Mine was 52:40.  I looked at my Garmin and it read 52:42, pretty cool.

And then, there was Shoe Tie Guy again.  He was running in front of me and I literally saw his shoe come untied!  This time he ran with it untied for a bit before he stopped.  I was wondering if he really had laces that wouldn't stay tied or if he just used it as an excuse to stop.  When he was running, it was fast, maybe he needed that break?  I don't know, but in the end, he came in before me.

Mile six, was my toughest.  It wasn't my slowest, but I just wanted to see the finish at this point.  I was pretty sure Elaine was finished by now and I was looking forward to seeing her.

At this point, I was behind a women in gray sneakers with yellow/greenish bottoms.  She had a good pace and I stayed with her for most of the mile.  For some reason, I focused on the bottoms of her shoes.

Then I saw Elaine.

She snapped my pic and then started to run with me.  I passed Miss Gray Shoes and Elaine and I started chatting.  She had a really great race.  My speed picked up and I saw the finish.

Hi Elaine!

I heard the steps behind me first.  As soon as we were in the cones to the finish, Miss Gray Shoes came flying past me.  Technically, she was leading in front of me for the whole race and I guess she didn't want to lose it at the very end.  She beat me by one second.  I am not very competitive and this did not bother me and I was happy for her. She wasn't in my age group either so that was another plus.  Shoe Tie Guy came in right before her.

Speeding into the finish!  Miss Gray Shoes had just passed me.

I finished my first 10k on 1:05:13, 9/11 in my age group and 75th out of 92 runners.  My pace was 10:30 which is my pace, no more, no less and I am very happy with that.

At the finish, they had coffee and doughnuts, bananas and oranges and hot dogs and hamburgers.  It was a very nice spread.  While we were eating, it really started to rain. We hung out and waited for them to post the results and then we headed home.

Elaine kicked some butt.  She finished in 51:08 which is an 8:13 pace.  Woohoo, way to go my speedy friend! 

I hope you have a wonderful Memorial Day.  We have no big plans but I am happy that we will all be together.  My parents will be here this week so that they can see Gracie graduate preschool.  She is so excited and I am thrilled for her.  I can't believe my baby will be in Kindergarten in the fall!

How are you celebrating and remembering this Memorial Day weekend?  Are you racing?

Run Strong, Think Big! ~ Nicole