First 10K Run

Well, the day of my first race has come and gone. I was a little nervous as I hadn't run a competitive race since I was 13 and in 8th grade middle school. I don't remember what the race was, but it was probably only for 3 miles and it is a good guess that I came in between 20th and 30th. Since the race is close to where I live I decided to drive down last Monday and run the coarse to see what it was like. There are no hills in my town where I train, but there are hills on this coarse. So running the trail before hand boosted my confidence in the fact that I could run it even with the hills. So, my buddy, Eric, and I (after registering and stretching) were ready race. This was the first time we ran together and I think our paces are about the same so neither one of us has to worry about keeping up with the other. 

Here we are taking off from the starting line.

It was a gorgeous day in the mid 60s and a nice breeze at our backs for the first mile. The second mile brought the largest hill of the day, but after ascending its heights, it was nice to get it out of the way early. The third mile was gradually decending down from the massive hill we accended in mile 2. Mile 4 was flat with a stronger breeze in our faces. Mile 5 had 2 more hills one right after the other, which were difficult to traverse, but once on top it was downhill all the way. Then mile 6 brought the strongest wind yet seemingly trying to blow us backwards as we approached the finish line. With a quarter of a mile to go we really started pumping to pass a few folks a head of us. They had been a head of us the whole race and we really wanted to pass them up. Granted they were a bunch of ladies, but dang it we passed them! Then with the last bit of endurance we had, we raced to the finish to the loud cheers of our families beckoning us on. 

Here we are coming to the finish.

My time was 56:39 which averaged a 9:07 per mile. The best I'd run 6.2 miles ever. I was the 22nd man to finish, 47th overall and 5th in my age group of 30-34. While I am happy with the run, I feel the need to explain all the facts. There were 30 men who ran the race (I was 22nd), a total of 82 racers (I was 47th) and there were only 5 men in my age group (and I was 5th, you do the math). So a little disappointing to know all those facts, but this is still the best I've run thus far and I'm very pleased with my training after 2 months of dedication. 

Here I am all sweaty after the race.

(Notice me representing TN!)

Two good looking racers after the 10K.

 

My wonderful family supporting my mid-life crisis, which is running 10Ks and half marathons.

The Runners! Eric (left), Erica (a friend from church who whooped up on us by a blistering 7 minutes) and me.

My next race will be in June and will be the half marathon. Lots of training to do til then, but I'm feeling really good about it and look forward to running in my first half marathon. I'll keep you updated on my progress and other fun stories. Until then, gotta run.