Fowl Fun Run 10K

"Today I am thankful for the families (wives, husbands, kids) that sacrifice their time with their loved one so that my family lives free. You are amazing people!"

 

So yesterday I ran the Fowl Fun Run.  Surprisingly I wasn't nervous at all.  The last run I did, the Have a Heart Run in May, I was really nervous.  I don't know if it was because it was my first race, or because I was going with my sister and she is a huge organizer and I'm not.  When I don't know what I'm doing and I'm with her, I get even more scattered and feel like I should know what I'm doing.  Anyway, once I decided I was going to do this run, I did a lot of self talk.  I decided I was going to get there early and look around.  Just hang out and see what was there.  I didn't do that at the Have a Heart Run.  I was there early, but didn't look around much, I was just nervous. 

I was kinda disappointed that there wasn't "more" there.  I don't know what I expected, but there wasn't anything going on beforehand.  It started at the Christian school here in Mt. Vernon, so I just sat in the gym and watched people.  I used the bathroom inside and was glad I did because there was quite a line for the port-a-potties.  There was no sign for the start, just the big inflatable "finish line", and I thought I had seen on their map that the start was in a different spot, so I wandered around a little looking for it, trying not to look like I was lost.  =)  Turns out the finish was the start.  lol! 

I was in the very back of the pack when it started.  In fact, I didn't hear anything, people just started running.  I heard some people saying the same thing, that they hadn't heard anything either.  Why is it that every run I do, I hate the first part.  I feel like I won't be able to make it.  When I run everyday at home, I don't always have a destination in mind, or an exact route.  So I do a lot of thinking about where I'm going to go.  I know a lot of distances from my house now, and I have different variations on each route I normally take, so I think about where I'm going to go, how far I actually want to go and so on.  Well, I noticed during the race that I couldn't think of those things.  I had no idea where I was going, and I had to follow the marked run.  I think it made it harder on me mentally.  I did a lot of looking around at the houses and the farmland I was running through.  That is of the biggest things I love about running outside, looking at the world around me (I wish I could listen to the world, but I can't, I have to have music in my ear). 

It was quite difficult to take a pic while running. =)

The first mile went by really, really fast.  I was surprised that I was already at the 1 mile mark.  However, the miles after that were not as quick.  I think the second and third mile were the longest.  However, the 6th mile was the hardest.  I had only run 5.5 miles up to this point, and that was once 2 weeks ago.  (I totally meant to do 6 last weekend but forgot.)  At about mile 5 I was done.  My legs were heavy and I was just ready to be done, I just kept thinking that I had done 5 miles and could do just one more.

I passed a lot of people at first and then fell in between two different couples.  One couple was 20-something year old females, tall and very, very thin, and the other was a female and male couple.  I ended up passing both couples and stayed ahead of them for most of the race.  Towards the end the girl/guy couple passed me and took off.  Then right at the finish line the 2 girls passed me.  I was upset, because I was ahead of them for most of the race and then they pass me at the very end.  But I was too pooped to try to get back in front of them. 

My time was great.  =)  It was very flat.  Seriously after looking at the route on MapMyFitness, there wasn't even a small incline or decline anywhere, it was completely flat.  I've never had a completely flat run before.  My app on my phone said I ran 6.39 miles at 57.42 min.  However, I turned it on a little early at the start, and forgot to turn it off until I was getting the chip cut off my shoe.  

Afterwards, I went back in the gym to see what was happening in there.  There was a lot of food and "goodies" but I really, really didn't feel like eating right at that moment.  I decided to get some water and then walk around outside a little.  I felt like I could use a good stretch.  I didn't do a "good" stretch, but stretched a little and then thought about going back in and having some pie.  But once again, I was out of my comfort zone and didn't want to sit there alone eating my pie.  So instead I just went home.  Besides, I had promised Damian teriyaki for watching Maddox, so I decided that would be my treat instead.  =)

Here are my official results:

I was 7th out of my age range.  I think that's great.  =)  And see my chip time . . . 56.51 min.  =)  I am super happy with that.  Since I've never run a 10K before, I got a PR! =)  lol 

I did see Kristin while I was running (she's a fast runner). I'm sure she didn't see me, or at least recognize me and I'm really not outgoing enough to say "hi" to people I don't know well. 

I spent quite a bit of time looking at the times of other people, trying to see if I recognized anyone.  There was one name that I thought looked familiar, but I don't know how I know the name.  I also recognized a girl from my Zumba class while I was running, but again, I was not comfortable saying hi. 

After studying the results for a crazy amount of time, I noticed something . . .

Do you see it!?  Those two girls are the two that passed me right at the end.  And their chip time is more than my chip time by 6 seconds.  =)  They started ahead of me in the pack and even though they finished ahead of me, I caught up to them and finished right behind them.  =)  For some reason that made me super happy.  I beat them after all, even though they passed me right at the finish line (seriously, look at the gun time 0.7 seconds behind them) . . . and I'm more than 10 years older than them.  =)