10K is My Favorite Race

Today would've been the day team Dirty Dancers made their entrance on the running stage. Today was the Mud Run that we were all set to sign up for and it was sold out. It broke my heart. Oh, well. We're going to be back stronger than ever exactly a year from now.

After a series of unfortunate events, the details of which I do not want to disclose at this moment, I signed up for the Iron Girl 10K in Del Mar. I ended up having a great time! I know it is the weekend before my finals and all, but I think it was well worth it. 

This is me and Wendy after finishing.

Wendy beat her PR by 3 minutes! That's huge, especially for a 5K. Congratulations, Wendy!

Considering my less-than-ideal running schedule these days, I did pretty well. 55:13. The girl who got first place in my age group totally kicked ass. She placed in the top 5 overall.

My first mile was, by far, the worst first mile I've ever ran. I was so stupid. A) I wasn't that nervous. I think the finals are taking so much of my adrenalin that it was depleted for the race. B) I was looking at this  lady at the start and I thought to myself, "She looks like she is going to run faster than my pace. I'm going to stick with her the first mile." That generally works. I like getting behind somebody during the race, then I feel like I'm just on a practice run. But anyway, the previously mentioned lady turned out to be sooooo slow! I glanced at my watch after the first mile - 9:19. WHAT? My first mile is usually not much slower than 8 minutes. Uhhhh. I totally wasted the first mile excitement and had to make up for it later.

Around mile 3 I finally found a girl I could keep up with but who was still pushing me a little bit (especially on hills). She was perfect, aside from the cross hanging from her chain. I made it my goal to stay behind her and then pass her on the last mile. That's exactly what I did, even though the last mile was unbearably difficult. (The girl in short pale pink shorts and white tank top in the picture below is the girl I ran behind.)

Somebody had a really great idea to have people finish on a race track. When I first heard that I was like, "Oh, sweet! I love doing the finishing lap on a track." Nuh uh. A horse racing track. That's right. Horse. My favorite animal. Not only was it hard to run on this sand-like surface, it smelled so bad I gagged twice during the last quarter mile on the track. I really thought that I was going to throw up so I slowed down.

This is the whole group together. (Rich is taking the picture.) Below is Zoe's and my feeble attempt at a jumping a picture. Zoe and I had a good time too. She taught me all about Girl Scouts and other things that I missed out on. (Daring Book for Girls is now on my wish list.)

All things considered, having a road trip with Barry and Sue, seeing Wendy, Rich, Zoe, Jack, Willow and Rosie, getting to see Sarah, finally visiting San Diego, running a 10K - all that accomplished in less than 24 hours! I had a blast. (Rosie is a three legged 14-year-old cat that also recovered from getting attacked by a coyote. She is pretty much my personal hero now.)