Christmas Carol 10k Race Report

So, I don't know what made me register for this race, but I guess I've just been having a hard time finding the motivation to start working out again after IMAZ and I thought this would be a good kick start!

This was an inaugural race at City Park, one of my favorite places to race, and it had a 5k and 10k option.  I have done sooo many 5k races that I just finally decided to do the 10k.  I have actually never really done a 10k race (except a local race in college), so I was kind of excited about it.  But, the fact that I had only ran twice since IMAZ added a little bit of nervousness too!

The temp. on race morning was supposed to be in the low 30s, so my husband decided to stay home with our boys.  Because I didn't know how long this race would take me, this was the best option because I didn't want my boys out in the freezing temps. for a long period of time.

So, I headed to the race dressed in my warmest gear.

I love how the stripes match  my shoes..ha ha!

I had to park about 1/2M away, so walking to the start was COLD, COLD, COLD!!  I could see my breath and wondered why in the world I had decided to run a race in these temps!

I got to the start, and was looking for the packet pick-up, when I saw this gigantic line of people waiting to pick up their bibs.  Are you kidding me??  At this point, it was 8:45 and the race was scheduled to start at 9A, so I jumped in line and waited.  It took about 15min. for me to get my bib.  It turns out there was only 1 person handing out bibs for the 10k race.  I felt really bad for that volunteer, but really it's the race director's fault.  That was just ridiculous!  

So, I pinned on my bib, did some business at the port-a-potty, then went to line up at the start.  They ended up starting the race a little late because of the line, but I seriously waited in line for ~1 minute before the gun went off!  YIKES!  This wasn't a chip timed event, so it took me awhile to get to the start line with all the people/5k walkers (we all started together).

Within the first 100 feet, it started to thin out and I quickly found my groove.  Before I left for the race my husband said, "You better run sub 8 miles!" He was joking of course, but a little voice in my head said, "What if??"

So, here I was, running in the cold, and I felt AWESOME!  My legs felt fast!  I looked at my Garmin and I was running around 7:30.  At first I thought, "You better slow down!"  But then, something inside of me changed and I started believing that I COULD keep up a sub 8:00 pace and I wanted to try and give this race my all!

The miles kept clicking by and I couldn't believe how great I felt.  I was passing people who started the 10k really fast, then before I knew it, I was passing people who were walking the 5k course (the 10k course was 2 loops of the 5k course).  I was working hard to keep up  my pace, but I was having a BLAST at the same time!

Finally, I hit mile 5.  There were these 3 guys running in front of me who had been ahead of me the entire race.  They were losing steam though, and before I knew it, I was right next to them.  Well, I don't think they liked the fact that a girl was going to pass them, because all 3 of them totally picked up the pace and sprinted really fast the last 1/2M to the finish.  I couldn't keep up with them, but part of me wished I would have been able to match their speed and pass them at the end...ha ha! :)

I reached the finish line and saw a 47:50 on the time clock!  Woohoo!!

Even though I was freezing, and my legs were killing me at the end,  I am sooo glad I did this race!  I pushed myself, set a PR for a 10k race, and had fun while doing it!  I can't ask for a better race than that! :)

Results:
(I'm going off my Garmin, because it wasn't chip timed and I had to wait awhile to get to the start line.)
Time: 47:40
Pace: 7:41/mile   WOOHOO! :)
30-39AG Place: 6/65
Overall: 39/264