All 36 of us sorted ourselves out at the starting line, I re-seeded myself at the back when I realized somehow I was farther up that I should be. The air horn sounded and we were off!

I had looked at McMillan's pace calculator a few days ago so I would have some idea what to keep my pace at for the race, basically 10:30. I figured I would keep glancing at my Garmin to keep myself either reeled in or putting out enough effort. At first Lea was behind me, but after about a half mile she passed but didn't really keep advancing, so I decided to keep her in sight. This wasn't difficult, because I think she was going my pace but just didn't want to be behind me. I passed two groups of two and then stayed static, position-wise for miles, keeping Lea no more than 150 feet ahead of me.

High school kids were working the turns and water stops and their enthusiasm was very welcoming, and I tried to thank as many as possible throughout the race. Oddly enough, there were also litter clean-up crews out picking up roadside trash which confused me the first time I saw them because I thought they were kids associated with the race.

Only drank water at the 2 mile water stop, walking about 50 feet while drinking. This would be my only walking stint.

I kept some advice from one of the sages from my mentor group in my head: run the first half at a reasonable pace, then if you feel like you can go a bit faster, do so on the last half. It is hard to tell if I succeeded at this from my splits because of the hill factor, but I do know I gave the last 2+ miles a good effort.

At the 'mean' hill between miles 4 and 5 (and part of an out and back), I made up a nice amount of ground on the downhill, using gravity to my advantage. Started closing more and more distance between her and another girl in front of her who we had both been slowly reeling in. I waited until rounding the turnaround cone to pass the other girl, giving her encouragement and chatting with her just a little, being sure to disengage by passing her (I have a history of getting 'involved' with people and somehow getting roped in to hanging with them longer than I would like, like entire races, LOL).

Lea is now very much within striking distance as we dodge a tractor and start heading up a little roller, then onto the 'mean' hill, only now heading back up it. Again I utilize the Yanti style of hill running and increase my cadence and shorten my stride. Gradually I catch her as she puts both hands on the back of her hips, still running up the grade. I chat with her briefly, then keep on movin'. On this section we got to see the people behind us, so I knew the two couples and the girl we just passed and now Lea were my buffer for not being last. At this point, I figured I'd have to get hurt to be last since the couples were spending a great deal of the time walking. Whew!

I kept pushing onward, winding through the driveways and parking lots of the schools, all the while being cheered on and directed by the student volunteers. Nearing the track, the glorious finishing area, I passed some girls who yelled, "I love your determination!" I yelled, "Thank you! Right back at ya!" and gave her the double point! Oh, they laughed and whooped at that! That gave me a little boost as well as a big smile which helped get me to the track. As I approached the track, I thought, "what if they make us do a lap around or some such madness?! Ugh, please don't make us do a lap, let this be it!" Thankfully, it was only about 1/4 the track until the finish line, woooo!

Hmm, good question. Maybe not walk the water stop, although I didn't walk long. Maybe be a little more consistent with pace, or push a little harder? Again, tough call since there were constant hills throughout of varying grades and lengths. Overall I was very happy with my race.

Walked around a bit, then grabbed some Gatorade which I quickly diluted with water, it was a bit too concentrated for my liking. Grabbed a banana half and a soft pretzel, ate the fruit and saved the pretzel for the ride home. Put that in my car and grabbed dry clothes to change into in the school bathroom. It helped, but I was still chilly. Stupid me should've brought pants of some sort, too, to put over my running things or to change into.

Went back to the track to watch the 5K finishers and realized that the 10K result board was still out there, so I went over to check out the standings. Scan...scan...female, 23...scan...female, whatever...scan...hey, there's me, and I'm, wait, really?! I'm the first finisher in my age group?! All the speedy 40-49 year olds (holy crap I don't like writing those numbers when refering to myself!) must've been at other races or in bed because there is no way that should happen in a normal situation at a normal race.

Immediately I sought out my new pal to make sure she knew to stick around. Found her, and we chatted with each other and another guy for a while waiting for the awards to be given out. Learned she is a roller derby chick, cool! We really hit it off and had fun talking. Finally they began the awards. Lea made the comment they should play the Olympic theme or something, ha! When they announced her name, she and I both yelled and whooped, and she jumped around, people laughed. They called my name and I followed suit, running up like a crazed fool for my medal, yelling and carrying on. When I got back to her, we exchanged high fives and the old timer next to me said, "You should win for most enthusiasm, too!" Ha ha ha ha ha! What a fun day!


The fact that this was my first standalone 10K ever and I wasn't sure what to expect and I didn't want to blow up. Finishing is important to me.


This is a very small race but was decently organized. The high school kids were the volunteers at the turns and mile markers and they were a lot of fun. Most of them yelled, cheered, and jumped around, encouraging runners along the way. The reason for the race is to raise money for middle school sports since some decision-making body decided to no longer fund sports for those grades. Last year the race made enough money to support the middle school cross-country and track and field team, so it was very good to hear that good things are happening with the proceeds.

They also hold a 5K, which goes off right after the 10K and people are given the option of doing both, which a fair amount of folks did.

The post race food was nice: soft pretzels, oranges, bananas, Trail Mix bars, Gatorade and water.

Timing was very old school: stop watches and a race clock (but not chip timed) and the bib tags were put up on a board in the order of finish.