Ran my 1st 10K race and did great. Matt didn't run this race with me so it was the 1st race that I ran solo...he must've been holding me back (ha, ha!) I dressed up in my 70's garb complete with two pigtails and a wonder woman shirt. I went out and bought a waist belt last night with a water bottle so I could carry water since there weren't any aid stations. It also held my son's Disney Mix Max so I could listen to music while running. The weather was great and I didn't mind carrying the water. Connor ran the 1 mile so I got to run with him for the first 1/2 mile until his turn around...he did great. Jed, Jaxine and Evan also ran the 200M and had a good time. Poor Matt was the only one left out, not getting to run a race though he did do the 200M with Evan but he wasn't signed up so I don't think he'll blog it. I tried to just run what I felt and not pay attention to the GPS as much as possible. However, for Burt's sake of me giving a "proper" race report, I had Matt set the GPS so I could see my mile splits once I finished. I was just behind the girl who took 1st place for the women most of the way. After the 1st mile she stopped and walked for a little and I passed her. Then she caught up to me and passed me up again. I felt a little bad that she got to rest and that I just kept running and she was still ahead of me. After the race I learned that she stops and walks for 30 seconds after each mile. Anyhow, I stayed just behind her again and then when she stopped and walked the 2nd time I stopped and walked too. I just let her set the pace and she really pushed me. We continued this until after the turn-around and then as we were passing a stream of water, I stopped and splashed my face with nice, refreshing cold water. This got all over my glasses too and I couldn't see well for a while and she got a little further ahead of me. I wasn't really as able to tell when she was stopping but I think my body picked up on the natural pace and I stopped and walked a bit after each stretch without looking at my pace or thinking about my time. I just focused on my body and each step. My legs were getting tired and I knew I was getting close to the finish and was just looking for the turn around sign for the mile so I could push the finish. I guess they took the sign down and so I didn't see it but saw Matt and the kids on top of a hill cheering me on so then I started pushing it...less of a push than the 1/2 was going to be but oh well. My finish time and pace surprised me because it was faster than my 5K pace. I thought I was going to finish in over an hour for sure. Thank you girl in pink for pushing me :). I also didn't have to waste energy in keeping up a conversation with Matt since I was running solo and the music helped. Or maybe it was the shear energy coming from my Wonder Woman shirt...yeah, that must've been it! So, here are my splits (for you Burt) 1st mile 9:30 2nd mile 9:50 3rd mile 10:22 4th mile 9:11 5th mile 9:22 6th mile 9:34 last little bit (the push) 8:41
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