Well, today was the day... my first 10k... and I loved every minute of it!!!
Today's weather was perfect for the Penton Memorial Turkey Trot 10k at LCCC... sunny and 50 degrees. And my running companion Jen did a great job of setting the pace to ensure that I could actually complete the entire race. Unfortunately, the two days of rain that led up to this morning's run didn't make for a particularly dry course and we spent a good half of the race trudging through puddles, thick mud and soggy grass. Of course, once we accepted our fate of wet shoes and socks and freezing cold feet, we were able to move past that fact and enjoy the rest of the race.
My biggest concern at the beginning was whether or not I could handle running the cross country style course - all grass - considering the fact that all of my recent training has been on the pavement or a treadmill. However, that may have been the one thing that helped me make it through the entire race. Running on the softer ground seemed to help a great deal with the persistent hip pain I'd been dealing with and I didn't feel any discomfort for more than half the race. Unfortunately, after a very short stint on the pavement, the pain kicked in and stuck with me the rest of the way, despite getting back on the grassy course. Fortunately, it wasn't enough to stop me from crossing that finish line.
And this was not my first time on this particular course. During my high school cross country days, this was a course we ran two to three times every year. Of course, it was the shorter 5k version, but still, it took me back many years. The one part in particular that stuck with me was the rather large hill that we had to run twice. It felt good to tackle that terrible hill again... and it was awesome to know I could still do it... even without the assistance of cross country spikes.
All in all, I'm very proud of my 88th place finish. Hopefully the results will be posted online at some point and I'll get to find out how I did in my own age group, but with 200+ runners registered, I'll take a better-than-half finish any day.
And in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I can tell you that I'm particularly thankful this year for dry socks and hot showers... and, of course, my husband, whose patience in waiting for me to get our traditional Turkey Day started allowed me to run this race in the first place.
In more unfortunate news, there's no doubt at this point that this race was a bit much for my hip. It's clear there's an injury being battled and I'm determined to win... and I'm afraid it's going to require some time off. No worries... I'll be back...
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