smokey bear 10k race report

so the morning started bright and early at 5a.m.  the kids sprung out of bed. they were excited to get up and put on their clothes with their number already pinned on front.  everyone had breakfast, got ready, and we headed out the door at six.  we planned on meeting our friends, mark & kym and their son, conner, on the way.  and we planned to follow them there. 

about 8 weeks ago, i talked kym into running the 10k with me.  got her a training plan and she had been following it since.  she called last week and said she chickened out of the 10k. she wasn't sure she could run it because she had shin splints, but had switched to running the 2 mile race instead. so we were both still really excited about the whole day and sharing this running experience :)

so we met them, and headed up the road to bass lake. we got there just before a giant rush of people started to come. pulled in the parking lot and started to unload. some people pulled right next to us, and i looked up and saw it was a friend who was also running the race. chatted with her for a few minutes and then headed over to check out the scene and hit the bathrooms.  soon they were calling for the kid's 1/2 mile race. all 3 of the kids were running.  pretty soon the gun went off.  i missed the start, cuz i was in the bathroom line again :)



can you see ryne?  he's over on the right.



the kids race was fast, before i knew it, both ryne & shan were already finished.  we were just waiting for drew to come in.  the kids said drew was walking.  he finally made his way in...and he was the very last kid to come in.  but he didn't even care.  we gave him big hugs and told him he did a great job.  he was very happy to get his participants ribbon :)  i decided to go warm up for a little bit, went for a jog  and stretched my legs. i missed kym's race completely. i was so sad.  soon they called for the 10k people to line up, so i met up with a couple friends and chatted for the final minutes before the start.  i was really excited race. can you tell from the picture? LOL

and then the gun went off...and i just took off. i hit the button on my garmin and thought i heard it beep...come to find out...it was someone else's watch that beeped, because when i looked down mine was still on 0. bummer....so my watch was off by .15mi.  but i took off and weaved to get through the crowd. i looked down at my watch and it said 6:30...and i thought, "wow..i didn't know i could move that fast. slow down". no kidding about that adrenaline rush.  got into a little rhythm and tried to stay about 8:00 pace.  hoping i could hang on and then have a little kick at the end.  the first 3 miles were great. the little hills didn't seem so bad. it was what they called rolling hills.  and it was up at about 4,000 ft elevation.  i had heard people talking that this was the toughest 10k in our area, with the hills & elevation. but i tried not to think about it. and here i was cruising over the hills on the way out.  at the turn around i felt ok, then the hills started rolling and i felt like i was starting to lose it. just tried to hang on & keep pushing as much as i could.  had my eye on the person in front of me and tried to catch them.  finally i saw the 1 mi sign...so i knew i had 1.2 to go...tried to kick it a little more, but my legs just felt so heavy, and i was starting to get a headache, so i knew i was getting dehydrated, but i was actually surprised at how fast i was moving.  i finally started to see the crowds of people ahead of me so i knew i was coming to the finish line and as i got closer i saw everyone there yelling. rich was standing in the middle of the road and had the video camera on me and then he and the kids all started running with me for about the last 100 meters or so. i gave it everything i had, and when i crossed i looked and saw 50:55. i felt like i could barely breath and they were telling me to rip off the tag from my number.  got some water and found the family.  i was seriously excited!! i didn't make my goal of sub 50, but i was close and i felt like i had done my best. and that was what i was after.  we hung out after the race and wait for the awards ceremony.  ryne ended up getting 3rd in his age group for the kids half mile. and kym won first in her age group for the 2 mile. so awesome. she rocked it with 17.07!! so proud of her. we waited around to see what my official time was, but it was taking forever and we were starving. so we headed out to get some food.  we ended up at "the forks", which is a little hole in the wall place, known for their burgers. and they were awesome. then we headed up to mark & kym's and hung out with them for the rest of the day. such a fun day spent with awesome friends. we were exhausted when we got home and i knew i had a 17 mile run the next day (today). so i was asleep by 9:30.  woke up bright and early with a slight headache, which i knew wasn't good. i had tried to drink tons of water after the race, but i guess it wasn't enough.  i was out the door at 6. ended up doing 18.31/ 2:58:01/avgHR 151/ avg pace 9:43  the first 12 or so miles were awesome, felt great. stopped by home and grabbed more gatorade and from that point on my legs felt so heavy i knew i was dehydrated. so i just kept drinking tons of water and hoped i didn't bonk.  i ended up finishing fine, got in my ice bath after. but the legs are a little bit sore.  tomorrow is a rest day, so i will be resting and stretching :)   the race was tons of fun and i can't wait for the marathon.

 and here's some pre-race interviews with the kids, kym and me :)