I should have placed myself right up front. I started about three or four rows back. This is a mistake I will not make again. At this point I believe I have earned that seeding. The other advantage this will give me is I will be better able to keep track of other competitors and my placement. The start was a bit frantic, I was about 15th down the chute. It narrows and makes a sharp s bend with a little down slope. Once on the main path I started passing people. We then hit the boardwalk with water on both sides and no rails, if you are not careful you'll end up in the water. I was able to pass a couple more people before getting back on the main path. The first hill separates the men from boys as I passed more runners. I skipped the first water station and motored on. at this point I figured I was in 7th or 8th but because I started so far back I never had an accurate count (MISTAKE). I passed two more guys but one of them decided to hang with me and he did for about 2.5 miles. The mile markers seemed a bit close and my new friend confirmed this. I managed to drop him on the last big hill. This is where I started thinking about some water so at the last aid station I grabbed a cup that had about two tablespoons of water. I thought to myself "this sucks a little", then when I raised it to my mouth half of it splashed on my face. That sucked a lot. So now the trail is a mess with people that are also doing the 5K and half marathon. With about 1.5 miles to go and mostly down hill I picked up the pace. with about 3/4 miles left I saw two runners that to me had the look of fellow 10K racers, I made a strong pass hoping the were, also hoping this might get me a top 5 overall. I kept the peddle down the rest of the way and looked back with about 100 yds to go to make sure my position was secure.

This was good experience for me. I will seed myself up front in the future. This will make it much easier to keep track of placing. The hydration was not a real problem being a short race and cool temps. As a note the guy who came in 1st in my age group came in 2nd overall and was 5 minutes faster than me.

Enjoined an it's it ice cream, pumpkin pie, M&Ms, pretzels and some water


All things considered, this was all I was capable of at this time.


Brazen put on a real good event. They did not have an awards ceremony. So I walked up to the awards table picked up my hardware, kinda a letdown doing it that way. A great start for 2012 race season, Thanks for being there and sharing it with me Gina. Your the best and I love you.