Anyway, back to the run. It had rained very hard the night before and even this morning. I went through many different outfits before deciding on just wearing my warm black pants and something that I could layer for my top. I wore a hat too in case of a downpour situation. Luckily by the time the race started there wasn't any rain but it was still pretty cold. It doesn't take me long at all to get too hot so I actually prefer it to be cooler. We were about a mile in the run when I realized that it seemed I was last. I was still with the end group but I didn't hear anyone behind me. I tried not to let that bother me. I knew I had been a slacker and this was my reward. I was enjoying it no matter what. It was a very pretty paved trail and the sun was actually out so it was a fun new experience regardless.
At around 2 1/2 miles I noticed the head guy coming back my way. I actually enjoy this part of a race when it is a out and back situation. I like to watch the other runners and tell them "good job." I was trying to see where the turn around was at this point. Just past mile 3 I saw it. There was a guy standing next to a table with some cups of water. I grabbed one and drank it down as quickly as I could. I didn't want to lose sight of the tail end of the pack. I started off again and noticed a few people coming my way. I just thought it was people out enjoying the trail. There were a lot of people using it that day. Then I realized they were wearing green and had race tags on. That really gave me incentive to at least try to keep up my pace so I wouldn't get passed. I was very happy at that point. After awhile another group went by me too. I knew for sure I wasn't going to be last then. What a relief :)
Because I thought it was going to rain I didn't wear my new ASICS. I wore my first pair that still worked well for today but I know my feet would have loved the new ones. The only other thing was my calves felt pretty tight. That hasn't happened before. I knew I had ran to hard on Thursday though and I didn't give myself enough time to recover. All of that on top of the fact that I just don't sleep as long or well as I need to didn't help. I'm working on fixing the sleep thing.
I looked ahead and finally saw the sign to turn back in onto the road that led back to the school and the finish line. Of course that whole stretch was uphill. I ran across the finish and turned in my name/number tag. I ran into the gym where they were supposed to have soup, bagels, and other goodies. All they had left was yogurt and water out of a cooler thing that tasted so much like bleach it was gross. I dealt with it though and had some of each. I didn't get anything in my age group or win any of the drawings. I know this sounds very sad and like I was last but to make it sound a little better for myself I did finish before several groups. The last person came in an hour after me so that helped a little.
My friend decided not to run yesterday, Jason and the girls were doing another errand, and I couldn't find anyone to come with me so it was just me headed back to the car when it was all over. It was a different start to my running year then I had planned but overall I'm very happy. I got to go do something I love and add another t-shirt to my collection. Now all I have to do is get my training time back up to where I want it so that this will be the slowest 10K that I ever do. That's my plan.
Run For Luck 10K Finish Time
1:08:12
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