Sun, Dust, and… Airplanes?

Last Thursday night I braved the heat and set out to run my 3rd 10k.  I headed into the ‘big city’ and over by the airport where the race was being held.

I’m pretty sure parking was like a mile away. And it was an airport parking lot, so there was pavement EVERYwhere.  Meaning it was even hotter. (Ok, that may not be fact, but I theorize it’s true.)

I’m not sure why races think giving you your tshirt before the race is the best idea.  I guess most people have people that come with them, but cut the rest of us some slack. What am I supposed to do with it!?  Even if it was a tech shirt, I can’t wear it during the race… that’s like wearing the band tshirt for the concert you’re doing to see. Totally lame.

So, I got my bib and shirt and had time to kill, so I make the trek back to my truck to drop off the tshirt.  I guess it was a pretty good warm up?

The starting area was small. And they started asking us to line up 10 minutes before the race started. And told the 5K runners to just line up behind the 10K runners, their race would start 5 minutes after the 10k. Oooookay.

I lined up in the middle of the pack.  There were some obviously *confident* people around me, some of which were obnoxiously yelling back and forth.  I kept checking my watch, just hoping it would finally start so I could turn my music up, find someone to pace, and ignore all the hooplah.

The first 2.5 miles where around the airport, which happens to be under construction. And offers no shade.  I was so tempted to turn around at the 5k mark, but I have too much pride and continued on.  Luckily there were plenty of water stops at least.  When I finally reached some shade, it smelled.  No idea. Not pleasant.

The last mile was fairly awful and tried to wish it away as much as I could, which involved some walking.  I guess it happens to everyone right?

Anyway, I didn’t really except anyone to show up.  I walked/ran the last mile and made no attempt to hide my disdain for the fact it wasn’t over yet.

See told you, disdain.

Needless to say, since there are photos, obviously my wonderful parents came to watch!!

I wanted to break 60 minutes, my previous 10k PR is 1:02:54, and that was last October.  I came so, so close.

Yes, that’s a measly 38 seconds I missed it by.  Although, you might notice I ‘lapped’ my Garmin at 6.2 (split 7), and THAT was under an hour. So, I’m blaming the race for being more than 6.2 miles. HA.

Well, another race under my belt and I can’t complain.  68th out of 96, and 6th out of 11 in my age group.  I was admittedly ill prepared for this race, having not put in the miles, and certainly not the miles necessary in the heat we’ve been having.  Next up? 5k next week... bring it!