Frost or Fog - Run10k

I rode in to the race with my Brother and his 16 year old daughter - and we had lots of good natured kidding about who was going to finish first. My brother and I used to have this whole competitive thing going on... but he has kinda "fallen off the running wagon" lately. I've been training pretty hard for a marathon on March 2, so I was about as ready for a 6.5 mile race as I will ever be. I even took a second rest day, just to make sure I was able to run well today.

There was a pretty good turnout of runners, so I started out close to the front - knowing the first mile or two was pretty much "single-track" and would be really hard to pass anyone. That turned out to be a wise decision, as I took off with the front pack, and never saw my companions again until I was about 6 minutes past the turn around point. At that point, I was about 24th overall, and about 6 minutes a head of them, so I knew that they were not going to be a problem.

I tried very hard to keep my pace with even splits - I had hoped for 7'30" splits, but that was based on my assumption of a flat course - which was a very bad assumption. The course had lots of hills, and I quickly changed by goal to 7'45" goal - which was much closer to reality. One of my running buddies had a gps unit - and said that several of the mile markers were off - which would explain my nine minute mile, followed by a 5 minute mile....

Paced myself well, and at mile 5 tried to pick up the pace a bit, and then at mile 6 tried to pull out all the stops. I ended up doing the last 1/2 mile at a 7'12" pace, and finished very strong.

In hindsight, I probably could have pushed a little harder early on - but being able to finish strong and pass people the last mile was worth it.

Walked around drinking "Recharge", eating banannas, and yummy raspberry bars. Nikki and Julie really know how to feed us!!!!


Nothing other than my 47 year old body.


Good overall rating - only negatives were the lack of course maps, and their PA system did not work for some reason. Other that that, it was a great race, well organized, lots of water, great food, and nobody got lost!!!