Well, it was really warm. And a beautifully clear, sunny day, and the course had very few shaded sections. Started out at a good pace, just kinda feeling it out to see how the knee and ITB would survive. Little sore during the first mile, but my attention was soon turned to trying to keep cool. Hit the first mile in 8:42, second mile in 9:16, third mile in 9:06, last tenth :50. Despite the water I had been drinking all day, I started to feel really dry and dehydrated 1/4 of the way into the run. Stopped and walked to down the whole cup of water at the only water station (at the halfway point), but then felt dry and started to feel nauseous from the heat past that. Just kept plugging along, though, determined to finish. Seeing my grandmother's name on the back of the race t-shirts some of the runners and walkers wore helped keep me moving forward. Was disappointed but not surprised (given my ITB/knee pain and lack of running this past week and, more importantly, the heat) to see my time.

Well...if it hadn't been for the fact that this race was for my late grandmother's church (in which she had been VERY involved), I wouldn't have run it or any other race this weekend due to the knee and ITB pain I've been having. Probably should've just run it slower as a fun run, but the race atmosphere always gets the better of me. So, nothing.

Stood in the shade drinking water to cool off and let my heart rate drop a bit, then walked around and ate a banana and apple and drank more water. Stretched a bit. Stuck around to see how we placed - 3rd in my age group but they only gave awards to the top 2 in each age group and I missed 2nd by only 1 or 2 seconds! Oh well. The true prize was just being out there.


Stupid knee and abnormally warm temperatures for Oct 21!


Very nice race. This is one I'd like to run every year in my grandmother's memory, but I'm not sure we'll be living close enough next year.