Slept in till 5:30. Got up and made chili for the chili cook-off tonight @ church. Then ate my regularly scheduled oatmeal, blueberries & yogurt breakfast (it's all mixed together in a bowl).
We left early for the race so we'd be sure to get a t-shirt. The weather maps all said it was NOT raining anywhere near Fayetteville, but believe me, it was raining everywhere we went. We registered in the rain and went back to the car with our awesome long sleeve t-shirts. It was a costume race, and I went as a "weight-loss cheerleader." I felt entitled to wear my "Go to **** Chubby" t-shirt since I had to work so hard to lose 70+ lbs back in the late 90's.
Met Linda, who is a friend I run/work out on occasion. She was dressed up in black and purple, which looked so good with my black and bright green. Together, we looked like a horrible bruise. Nah, j/k we looked good if I do say so myself.
There was no starting mat, so it was all gun time. But since they added .5 extra miles onto the race course, the official everything is really kind of a joke.
I ran with Mike. Linda ran the 5k. We did actually run together for a mile or so after mile 1. The courses crossed paths (this was the mistake part). But it was cool to see her. She was running the same tempo that Mike was, so we were all hanging together.
I found a goal early on in the race. My goal was to beat wonder woman. She was keeping a pretty regular pace in front of us for the first 2 miles. She was always just in front of us. When Mike slowed down a little at mile 2, I thought my goal was unobtainable. But at mile 4, we passed her!! And it was all good after that.
I decided to run fast for the last .2 miles. So when my garmin beeped mile 6, I took off at my tempo pace. It felt good, but it seemed like it was lasting longer than .2 miles. I realized somewhere along the way that there was an error in the distance, but I just kept trying.
I forgot to stop my watch when I ran across the finish line. Linda was cheering me on, and I forgot what I was doing because I was having so much fun. When I did remember, it had been a while. I'm not sure how long. So we'll just go with their time. I was pretty sure the clock at the finish line said it was 58 or 59 minutes when I was running across the finish, but I can't be sure. Doesn't really matter.
Paces were: 8:55, 9:29, 9:45, 9:32, 9:56, 9:32, 8:17 (last .7 including the time that I was stopped at the finish line and had forgotten to turn off my watch. It said my best for this section was 5:52. I guess that was at the very end with my downhill push to the finish. Not really sure when I was going that fast, but it's fun to see a speedy time like that on my watch!).
A little warm & humid at the end, but not raining. Start: 67o, 90% humidity. End: 69o, 93% humidity.
