RACE REPORT: Jackrabbit Run 4 Hope 10k!
…a PR, but barely!

A PR is a PR…that’s all I have to remember. It sure wasn’t pretty though. The weather was unbelievably humid. I mean…close to 100% humidity. The temperature was probably mid 80’s, but that didn’t matter. We were swimming through that air, and that’s all I have to say about that…

I mentally had a tough time preparing for this race. Honestly, it’s a tricky course. A first mile gradual uphill climb. Then a second mile 150 foot climb (in two sections…but tough!) Then 3 miles of VERY flat but curvy neighborhood roads. With a turn-around. Not easy, because you see the runners that are in front of you finishing the race. Ughh. Then the fun mile 6 downhill. TOUGH. You have to control your legs running downhill or else…Then the last .5 mile or so is a slight uphill to the finish after just beating my quads to death. Nice.

I thought about halfway through the race ‘there goes my PR.’ I kept passing people though, which gave me a little confidence. Pretty much after the first mile I don’t think I got passed at all, except right at the very end…But right at the turn-around before mile 4, I just felt BAD. Morally I was beat because I didn’t remember a turn-around last time I did this race. Then there was the fact that I was pushing harder then I had planned to and was feeling defeated physically because the humidity.

I saw my dad right before mile 6 and gave him a thumbs up. I don’t remember what he said to me as I had my headphones on but I just put my head down and went for it. I passed a guy who was struggling and when his friends saw me pass him, they started giving him a hard time. In turn, he sped up and I gave chase. I had to remind myself to run my own race though…

I finished strong though and my eyes were glued to that timing clock. Could I have PR’ed? I was close…was I one of the first women to finish? I couldn’t tell, but didn’t see anyone in front of me…After walking off the pain, I went to look for something sharp to use to cut my chip off my shoe. I saw the placings then…5th overall female. 3rd in my age group. 3rd?!!!!! It looks like the two women that beat me were my age.

After sticking around FOREVER for our portion of the awards ceremony (like probably an hour later!) we went up there to get our medals. The women that beat me were amazingly in shape and very nice women. The girl that placed first was wearing a Boston singlet, so I guess I have nothing to complain about:)

A good race overall, looking forward to beating 50 minutes someday…just wasn’t in the cards today. Next time!

THE STATS:
6.2 miles

ave 8:14/mile
50:54 total running

8:00, 9:11, 7:58,
8:35, 8:33, 7:13, 1:20