A 10K for the win, MacQueens race recap

On Saturday we made a trip to Cedar Point to see some of the night rides and the Halloween happenings.  A lot of the “scary” stuff only happens past 7pm, so we hit the park around 3pm.  Oh my, that place was packed!!  It was the busiest I have ever seen it.  Wait times of 30 mins just to get on an old lame ride!  Good thing we weren’t there for the rides that time.  My daughter was not so thrilled about going through a haunted house, but she did it (after a bit of persuasion).

The weather was quite chilly when we left the park, in the low 50s or maybe even 40s, and I was starting to dread the thought of racing on Sunday morning.  I haven’t run in those cold temps since last Spring and I had no idea how to dress!  I pulled together a bunch of cold weather stuff I thought I might need, like gloves, head band, arm sleeves.  I was also debating if I was going to carry water.  I LOVE my waterbelt and I love the feeling of being able to drink water whenever I want.  I was just kind of all over the board about running, and racing, and what to wear – and honestly, I wasn’t excited about the race.

MacQueen’s Run for Your Life 10K

Sunday morning was a crisp, sunny day.  It was 45 degrees!!  I decided to go with a pair of warm arm sleeves and just leave the waterbelt in the car.  Even with the sleeves, headband and gloves I was still shivering like a Chihuahua at the start line!!  I got to the race early to pick up my bib and get some pictures with my fellow Glass City Marathon Race Ambassadors.  Funny – I look like a giant compared to the others in the picture, but in reality, I’m only 5’4″!  Petite on the clothes scale 🙂

After the gun went off, I decided to just see how the first mile felt.  Sadly, my evil glute strain was nagging a bit and I started to think this was just going to be a “fun run”.  But when I saw my time at the first mile was 8:46, my mood perked up a little.  After a mile my glute issue disappeared.  Then when my second mile came in at 8:23, I was feeling even better!  Here’s the rest of the miles…

Mile 3:  8:24 – I was mindful to keep the pace “easy”, but also realized that the race was almost over.  I saw my overall pace was good, and I decided I was going to PR today!

Miles 4 & 5: 8:13 – I was starting to pick it up just a little.

Mile 6: 8:04 – Last mile!  Time to put the hammer down and finish strong!  Funny thing happened here… I was passing people and got to a young girl (16?).  When I passed her she matched my pace.  We ran together for a little while then started going back and forth for the next 1/4 mile.  I passed her with about 1/2 a mile to go and when I looked back she wasn’t anywhere in sight.

Finish Line: 7:42 – As I started going down the finish chute I thought “I know she’s going to catch me.  Go fast!!”.  Just as that thought popped in my head, sure enough there she was right by my side!!  We sprinted it to the finish but she beat me.  I gave her a “good job!!” when we crossed.  I later learned that she was 13 years old.  Go girl!!

51:28 – my official finishing time.  I really like those gold Ambassador shirts for this year because it makes it easy to find myself in pictures!   51:28 made a new PR for me.  The last time I raced a 10K I got 53:04, so yeah, a win!!  7th out of 42 in my age group.

I enjoyed this race and the orchard was quite scenic.  I’ll make sure to include it in my race calendar next year!  10K are a pretty awesome race distance.

I really needed this race right now because it showed me how much I do enjoy racing, and how much it helps me to have people around to keep my pace up!  I also feel much more confident about the Columbus half coming up.  Maybe I won’t suck after all 🙂

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Q:  Do you like haunted houses?

Q:  Given the choice, do you carry water at a race or just use the water stops?