Race the Lake!

After a weird week, I woke up – freaking early BTW – for the 10K I was doing this morning.

This is my 3rd year running this race and it’s the last year they are holding it.  The last 2 years I was the 2nd fastest female, and I wanted first this year. 

In addition to the 10K run, there was 10K biking, so Marc was stoked. 

I was feeling much more confident entering this race – not confident that I would win, but confident that I would have a good run - unlike the race 2 weeks ago.  I had my magic tutu on, you know!

Anyway, we arrived early to almost ideal weather – low 70’s, hazy and only a very slight breeze.  Usually running along the lake brings a lot of wind, but not today.  It was pretty humid and warming up quickly, but that was a-ok with me.

As I stood in line at the port-a-potty I overheard a woman talking to a friend.  She looked to be in her 40’s and told the guy that she had reviewed last years times and was “pretty sure” she could take first.  “Damn!”  was my thought.  She also had a long grey-ish mullet. 

Marc and I stood ready to go and I wished him luck as they called the bikers to the line to head out first.

Then we racers lined up and I noticed it was a pretty small field.  BANG!  We were off.  Ms. Mullet passed me quickly.  As I always do, I tried to keep a slow pace and at mile 1 I came in at 8 minutes. 

At mile 1.5 I passed Ms. Mullet and wondered if she was going to save something to the end.  I saw 2 women ahead of me – a very pretty blond who was impossibly tanned and an extremely thin and fit looking woman in her 20’s.

We took a turn at mile 2 and I realized I was pushing myself too hard because I was already beat.  Mile 2 came in at 7:30.

But during that mile I had passed the blond.  Shortly after mile 3, I passed the other woman and knew I was in first.

Mile 3.5 is where we took the turn that allowed us to run along the point – the water was beautiful and glimmering today in the hazy sunshine and I realized I was actually enjoying this run – isn’t that the point??!!  And Barry Manilow came on my MP3 player to serenade me (I love me some Barry – no judgments please!!!)

Mile 5 started with a water station.  I usually don’t stop for water in these 10K’s, but it was getting hot, and I was pretty thirsty from pushing so hard, and plus my Achilles was screaming.  I debated if I should stop because this would allow people to catch up, but then I realized that if they had caught me, we still had over a mile to go, so they would pass me anyway, so I might as well take a quick break.  I gulped down the cold water and looked behind me.  I was shocked to see that there was not one person in sight!

So I took off again and the last 1.2 miles was a beautiful coasting run.  Marc had – obviously – finished and was there to take pics.  I was in better shape this time then 2 weeks ago at the end!

A pretty sweet run!

Final stats:

• 4th place overall – out of 52 racers.
• First place female
• Time = 48:13

We then headed down to where we enjoyed the spoils:

Marc finished in 3rd place so we both got awards.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All in all, it was a pretty great day.  I did not weigh myself this morning and probably won’t tomorrow.  I wish I could say that I am beyond the point where the scale dictates how my day goes, but it isn’t true.

So I’m not going to let it bring down my happiness about today!!