SF10 TR #19, Toad Suck 10K

SF10 Miles Trained To Date: 117.50

Phew! I'm home! A 10K is by no means a marathon in terms of time commitment. Ha!

I was up-and-at-em by 5 AM. Conway, AR is about an hour drive from my house, so I aimed to leave at 6 so as to arrive by 7. The race-packet-pickup would end at 7:30, and I did not want to take any chances. My coworker Laura had given me some excellent directions (she went to college in Conway). We arrived right on schedule. The packet-pickup took about 60 seconds. Here is the shirt I received for running the race:

If this isn't the cutest race shirt you've ever seen, you'd better get your eyes checked. :)

So after affixing my timing chip (and I was SOOOOO impressed that a "little race" would use them) and pinning on my race number, we went to find an ATM and some food for Chasen. We drove and drove unsuccessfully... and finally decided that we better just get back so I could make a final pit stop before the race began. Well let me tell you... the line for the ladies room was at least 20 deep! A very kind runner told us all that there was yet another set of restrooms across the track (the race started and ended at the Conway High School track). So we high-tailed it across the field and soon I was ready to run!

I am VERY LUCKY, by the way. I have an official photographer AND a chauffeur. He did quite a good job today!

Here I am stretching before the race. I must say that he did a good job with this one! Don't I look happy to be there?

And here I am walking towards the starting area.

There were, I'd guess, about 500 runners and walkers. While lining up I overhead a guy to my right telling another guy that he had just ran the Little Rock Marathon and it was his first. The other guy exclaimed "You picked Little Rock for your first marathon? With all those hills?" Ha! I sympathized. It wasn't that bad... (she says after two months recovery time...)

Yesterday I made a super-duper discovery: DJ Steveboy. I heard about this phenomenon on The Final Sprint podcast. DJ Steveboy has his own podcast called PODRUNNER (http://www.djsteveboy.com/). He makes hour-long mixes based on certain heartrates. How cool it that!?! I had downloaded a mix for 170 beats per minute called "Joggernaut." It's tagline is "If this don't make yo booty move, yo booty must be dead!" Ha ha ha! That is a very accurate description, let me tell ya!

And we're off! I was just so happy to be running a race. I was many steps past the timing mat before I realized that I forgot to press start on my Garmin. Oh well - that's life. I pressed a little late. I was so into the music that I hadn't paid any attention to the local-celebrity speaker at the start of the race. As I started running, I was flying. The music was amazing. It felt fairly effortless, but I was really trucking. I did the first mile in 9:53 - and that was an effortless miracle. The second mile was done in 10:19, which was approaching the pace that Coach Terry wanted me to keep throughout the race: 10:35 (which I had previously though would be impossible - but at this point I was thinking I just might be able to do it!)

It was pretty hot and muggy out there. I was running so fast that I just knew I must be beet red in the face. I had strategically asked Chasen to be just past mile 3 for some encouragement. He was there, right on schedule. And I needed encouragement - it felt like I was literally running for my life!

Here I am at mile 3.something. I was about the begin the only hill of the course, which was more like a speedbump. This was a really flat course, thankfully.

Past seeing Chasen, I really felt that I needed to do some walking. I had just completed mile 3 in 10:55, a bit slower than goal, but I figured it was OK since the first two miles were so speedy. At this point I was thinking "Oh my goodness, I still have a long way to go. Better slow down and conserve some energy for the final miles." So I did just that. And did I mention that it was HOT? Eeew!

I did even more walking in mile 4, which I dismally completed in 12:05 - a longrun pace! Ick. But while I was out there I kept thinking "Now I know why I am a distance runner - because speedy short runs stress me out!" Ha. I was reminiscing about all of the LR Marathon training runs as I jammed to DJ Steveboy. That mix really, really kept me going. When I was actually running, it was almost always at a sub-10 pace. For that, I was quite proud.

Chasen surprised me by being at almost mile 5. (I'm way back there just past the white car.) I was thankful to see him. I knew I was almost finished, and I really wanted to hurry up and get back to the track!

I completed mile 5 in 11:46. I knew I wouldn't make my 10:35 pace average now, but I was happy to be out there doing my best. After a few more blocks, we made a turn that led to the high school. I saw tons of people, and that really riled me up! I wanted to surge onto that track and be done with it!

There I am just getting to the track (just on the other side of the orange cones).

I was running alongside a girl about my age and was kind of determined to try to pass her. Well, I at least didn't want her to get too far ahead of me! (She's just ahead of me in the above photo.) As we made it to the other side of the track - OH MY GOODNESS - she fell down! I gasped. I immediately stopped to try to help her. Once the shock of it was over (which took about 1.1 seconds) she realized that she was OK. As I realized that also, I said "Come on, shake it off, you can finish! You're almost done!" And she did just that, as did I. I don't even recall who finished first. I assume it might have been me, since she had just taken a blow to her knee, but it doesn't matter. We both finished!

This is a photo of the finish line that was taken pre-race. Our camera battery bonked just as I was finishing the race!

The finish line clock said 1:08, I think, as I ran underneath it. My Garmin, which I was careful not to stop until I was well past the finish line to make up for the starting line fiasco, said 1:07:26 (10:57 average pace). I did not see Chasen, but there were about a billion people in the bleachers, so I headed straight to the timing-chip-removal volunteers. They were each standing behind a track hurdle. So I got to prop my foot up on the horizontal close-to-the-ground bar for them to cut off the chip. What I was most thankful for, though, was the top of the hurdle. I just leaned over it like I was about to pass out! After that I headed to the snack/water area. I needed that more than I needed my photographer/chauffeur at that particular moment! Believe it or not, they were already out of bananas and I was only able to get a kiddie-cup filled with water. Soon Chasen came from behind with my much-needed sweat towel. We walked back to the car and he told me how proud of me he was. That was good to hear! I got a major cramp in my right calf trying to get in the car. I was just too flexed! So he fixed it, as always.

After that, thanks again to Laura's excellent directions, we went to Ed's Bakery. It is my opinion that Ed's makes the best iced cookies in the world! OK, at least in the state! So we got a dozen Iced Toads that we will share with others.

Finally we leisurely drove home - all 57 miles. Now I have to get showered and ready to go for a massage. My wonderful Chicago friend Thi sent me a gift certificate for completing the Little Rock Marathon - how sweet!!! - so I am using it today.

What a day! Look out Soldier Field... here I come!