back in the saddle again

I *heart* running. After a forced four day detox, I am back in the saddle again. I was crawling up the walls by Wednesday. I love to be outside and I wasn't even allowed to do that...talk about cabin fever! I took a short spin around the neighborhood on Thursday after work, another one Friday morning, ran the Route 66 10K on Saturday morning, and ran a recovery run this morning. Ahhhhhh....it's good to be back.

I've never run a 10K race. I've ran every other random competitive distance (besides the ultra) that I can think of though, which I find rather odd. So here's my first competitive 10K race report.....(drum roll please).

Friday evening: I went to Bipod to pick up my race packet. They made a mistake and had my registration down as a non-competitive runner, so my time wasn't going to be recorded for the age group results. They wouldn't change it for me either. It was kind of a bummer, but I thought I would just wear my watch and hopefully remember to pay attention to it when I crossed the finish line. The goodie bag had a key chain flashlight, a regular key chain, a can cozy, and some Biofreeze (Yeah!...great stuff). The t-shirt was Cool-Max, but enormous and a hideous gray color. My pre-race dinner consisted of a handful of Cheez-its and half a frosted oatmeal cookie from the Cupcakery in the Central West End. Ahhh...the dinner of champions.

Saturday pre-race: Woke up to a foggy cool morning...perfect, not too hot or muggy. I got ready to go, had a good breakfast, and headed out the door. I drove about a mile and remembered that I forgot my ipod and turned around. I made it to the race in plenty of time. While I was waiting for it to start, I struck up a conversation with a fellow runner. She BQ'd and ran it this year. I admired her Garmin and we chatted excitedly about running, races, training, etc. while we waited for the race to start. I knew I would never be able to keep up with her, so I told her to run ahead without me.

Race miles 1-2ish-The course ran along some of the city streets...lots of potholes, hills, and brick paved avenues...not exactly smooth sailing.

Race miles 2-5ish-The course ran along the MCT Trail system. It was shaded and not too crowded. The runners and other trail users were very considerate. I ran with a pack for most of the race, trying to pick people off as we went. I knew I was holding back, but I wasn't stressing about it. I was just enjoying being out there again with my runnin' peeps. At one point, a water stop sponsor had people shooting water at the runners with water bottles. Normally, I would appreciate that, but I got nailed in the face and I was wearing my glasses. Since no one has invented lense-shield wipers for glasses yet, it was a little tricky trying to run without banging into my fellow runners and try to wipe them off so I could see.

Race miles 5ish-6.2-We were back on the city streets. I tried to pass a woman that looked super buff that I had been playing sling shot with the whole race, but I couldn't catch her. I finished in about 56 minutes and change...subtracting time for the trip from the gun to the starting line...I forgot to look at my watch. I had that old familiar "Dang, I know I have so much left in me!" feeling after the finish, but I'm not going to beat myself up too much over it. I now have a baseline time for any future 10Ks that I do, so I have lots of room for improvement!

Post Race-My new running friend (Tammy) and I hung out after the race to see if we won any door prizes. She won 1st in our age group and got a nice trophy. The overall winners got a free pair of running shoes too. They had some great door prizes (i.e. massage gift certificates, road i.d. gift certificates, clothes, etc.-that's what you get for having a running store sponsor a race!). Tammy won two 6th row Cardinal's tickets!!! We ended up taking a stroll around the local farmers' market and exchanged contact info. so we could meet up for a morning run sometime. I love being a runner....we are such a friendly, encouraging bunch.

*Oh, yeah...I also got a new air conditioner this week! I am no longer living in a sauna and I can sleep in my own bed again!