Well, today was the big race. The race started off humid and sticky, followed by rain. I was soaked about 5 minutes after the start. And, as if breathing in humid weather was not bad enough, the rain made the race route a slippery mess. Less than ideal conditions...but who cares, it was still fun!
I started the race really well, fell right into my pace and felt great. Even my knee was cooperating, that is, until the hills started. This race had quite a few hills, and each hill seemed to be a little more steep than the next. The steepest hill in the route resided around the 3-mile mark and this one finally claimed my knee. It was steep and long and my knee tolerated it about half-way before siezing up. So, I unfortunately had to hobble up to the top of the hill before resuming my run. However, once I made it past that, I was able to finish the run.
I really wanted to finish the race as close to 60-minutes as possible, but, alas, I will have to wait until the next 10K for that. My race time was 68 minutes, a new personal best, but I am a little disappointed that I didn't hit my goal.
I have to give my husband a super-big thank you for running the last mile with me. I was in quite a bit of pain at the end and he did a good job of keeping my mind off of it. The EMT's at the first aid tent were super nice, too, in that they helped move me to the first aid tent, iced my knee, and gave me water and gatorade. All-in-all it was still a lot of fun! |