I'm not dead yet....

Today's miles: 0. Ran 4 miles last night. May/may not run a few tonight. I'm taking a 'recovery' week whether I need it or not.

A few days before the Carter Mill Splash 10K, my major goals were 1) do not die and 2) hydrate & 3) do not almost die.

I have no idea how hot it was Saturday morning at 7:30 a.m. when the gun went off....but it was hot. (It was 88 just after the race…so probably not much cooler than that.) More than the heat…it was HUMID!

Who holds a race in July anyway??

Better yet, Who RUNS a RACE in JULY???

Oh wait.... that was me.

That's me in the skirt. I love running skirts. They look weird but who cares.

I tried to come up with some reasonable goals for this race....
1) keep an 11 min/mile pace....finish in 1hr6 min  (missed it!)
2) do NOT go to that quitting place (did NOT go there!)
3) give it everything you've got (almost, but not quite)
4) chase down that guy that breathed funny and belched and spit and pass his ass (took him on a downhill!)…and a couple of other people I picked off in the last 5K.

GOAL#1

So, my official finish time was.....1:08:56
That put me at about an 11:03 min/mile pace. So, I missed my time goal. DANG IT!

However, it was 8 minutes faster than my last 10K….even though that was in February 2010.

Even though I’m bummed about my time….I am stoked about it…

I CAME IN SECOND PLACE*

Yes, you read that right…..I CAME IN SECOND PLACE*! 2^ND* FLIPPING PLACE! WOOHOO!!!

*That would be second in my gender/age group of Females 34-39**.

**In full disclosure, there were only 2 other women in my age group, and the first beat me across the finish line by 11 minutes.The lady in third was less than a minute behind me.

GOAL#2

The quitting place is where you start thinking…What the heck am I doing out here? Am I nuts? I don’t want to do this? My feet hurt! My legs hurt! I’m thirsty! I need to walk! Etc., etc.  Despite the incredible heat & humidity, I managed to stay away from those thoughts and push forward. I did walk through the water stations simply because I actually needed to DRINK the water and not WEAR it. And the last two stations I opted for Gatorade because I’m certain I had sweated a few buckets out by that point. And I did not want to wear Tropical Fruit Gatorade on my white tank.

GOAL#3

I missed my goal by so close. DANG IT! Did I give it everything? Was I too conservative on the first half. I know I kicked it in on the second half (mentally at least)....but it was much easier because the first half was mostly up hill and the second half was mostly down hill. Plus it was a down and back, so I knew where I was on the back trip. Making it mentally easier because I visually knew what was coming next. I don’t think I really got this goal met. I don’t think I gave it everything. Of course that’s much easier to say 3 days after the event while sitting in the AC.

GOAL #4

The Belcher-Hacker-HeavyBreathingSpitter was incredibly annoying. His issues kept distracting me from my pace. Impressive belcher, but Really? I couldn’t stay in front of him during the first half, but I didn’t want to lag too far behind him. So for 3.1 miles….I endured, gagged, sang to myself in my head, anything to keep my mind and ears from focusing on him. I’m just glad he wasn’t also a Running Farter since I was behind him! I saw my opportunity on the last half because he was fading. And I had to get around him! I also decided to pick off a few more runners that were in front of me while I was at it.....which takes me back to #3. How did I have that much gas in the tank if I were giving it my all from the beginning.

The green shirt lady got PASSED. You can guess who the fella is.

Well, even though I only got 1/2 of my goals met, I feel pretty good...mentally….sort of. I’m really wondering about my racing. My quads were shot for a couple of days, but I’m back out on the road after a couple days of rest. And it's FABULOUS running in 70F weather with low humidity again!! Too bad I can't bring it home with me.

Gotta run….