Sunday morning I ran the
Gazelle Foundation Run for the Water. I think this was the sixth running and it benefits a program to dig wells in Burundi. The race price was $39 before the end of August for a 10 mile race which is incredibly affordable. I think the 5K price was $19. Our swag was a short-sleeved tech shirt and a few coupons. We got a bottle of water at the finish and I'd pay $39 again for this race.
I've been really tired the last few weeks and skipped quite a few workouts including my last long run. As late as Friday, I was apathetic about running the race. I talked to a co-worker and basically came to the conclusion that I had already donated my money to a good cause and didn't want to get up early. Then Saturday as the day went on, I got more and more committed and invested in running. I slept very badly and was up well before my 4:45 alarm.
Weather was predicted to be 41 at race start and as high as 45 by the end of the race. I wavered on whether to wear shorts or tights and even put on shorts at home, then changed into tights at home, then changed back into the shorts after parking my car while sitting in the car. The website says that sunrise was scheduled for 7:05. The race booklet said 6:40-something and the sunrise calendar on my google calendar app said 7:42. Ok... I got downtown by 6:00 and parked my car on the street about 4 blocks from the start and finish. I didn't need to be that early but better early than late. It was actually about 45 degrees at start.
I walked down to the start and paced around and did a little jogging and got a temporary tattoo. I was trying to meet up with a few twitter/running friends but never found them. My hair is flattened because I was wearing a hat but here's a picture of me at the start. I got the person standing next to me to take it on my phone. It's the only picture I have from the race.
My plan was to run 2:30/1:00 until about 7 or 8 miles and then extend that time if I felt good. The race was a lot of uphill for the first 7 miles and then downhill from there. The start was good and I crossed the start line when the clock said 1:00 (compared to 28:xx the last time I did the Livestrong). I spent the first few miles making sure to get out of runners' way when I needed to walk and avoiding walkers and a few dogs. Right near the start I saw a runner in a spider man costume, a girl in a Super girl costume, and a girl dressed as a popcorn box.
The sun came up about 2.5-3.0 miles in and was blinding for a few minutes but then just became pleasant. I was happy to have my hat and took it off and carried it a few times but generally felt like my clothing were perfect and comfortable. I ran and visited with various people including a man in his 70s who has run 77 marathons starting at age 50 and was run/walking a 1:00/1:00 ratio. We ran the last few miles together. By mile 7 I knew I wouldn't break 2:00 but still wanted to beat my last 10 mile time which was 2:07 (actually I looked it up later in the day and it was 2:06:19). I pushed at the end (last two miles at 11:23 and 12:23), sprinting the last 200 meters or so to clock 2:05:26. I'd like to have seen a more than :53 improvement but I think this was a hillier course and I really enjoyed the race. I simply felt happy. I enjoyed running. I enjoyed the city.
Perhaps I can expect no more from a race than to say I enjoyed it and felt happy.
Splits: 11.52, 12:04, 12:53, 13:07, 12:08, 13:38, 12:57, 12:40, 11:42, 12:23
