Jingle Bell 10K

10Ks aren't as much fun as half marathons, but their a sight better than 5Ks.  5Ks are just an exercise in pain management, perhaps not as bad as 800s, but still to be avoided as possible.

the last time I did the jingle bell run was in '07, which was a good year for me.  some good races, and some bad, but for the most part everything I put a serious effort into went fairly well.  this race in particular.  records say I finished in 42:38, but I blamed it on the course being short.

Could be that.  Or it could be I had a really good race.  Maybe some of both.  But I took away from that experience that maybe I had some speed that I hadn't tapped into yet.  Well, I was slower this year, but I still put up a respectable showing, i think: a decent 43:47.  Not sub-7 pace, but pretty close.  Got me 19th overall, though only 6th in my Age group.  it's not like I'll ever be going sub 30, or even sub 40 unless I have some sort of break through.

First mile went how first miles usually go.  I started off a little slow till I figured how my body would respond to race pace.  During my warm up I had to walk for a bit to keep myself from throwing up.  Bit of irony that was lost on me at the time, but I didn't have any problems with my stomach during the race.  So I guess it was worth it.  Still, I was worried that I'd mess up someone's lawn for a bit.

Ran with a friend of mine who wasn't going to race the race- or so she said before the race started.  She did a five mile easy run before the race, and was thinking that she'd just run with a friend.  Well, she pulled ahead of me after mile one and finished well enough to take female Master's.  I was happy enough just to be able to keep her in sight for a couple of miles.

Also was recognized by one of my customers; a high school cross country runner whose mom is the team's coach.  I was surprised that she was able to do any sort of recognition during the race- personally, I'm usually too absorbed to recognize anyone unless I run with them on a regular basis.

Anyway, i got to the end and saw the time counting its way up to 44, which I beat, and the runner up ahead of me, whom I didn't.  Couldn't have asked for better weather, or a better marked course, and it was fairly flat.  though I like hills; gives me a reason to say why I didn't earn a PR.  Even though in this race I say that I did, if the '07 race really was short.

This week, I've got the trot with turkeys, which I'm looking forward to.  Always fun running around someone else's stomping ground.