This was my first 10K, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Of course, I obsessed over what time I should shoot for and what playlist I should use. I also looked up the weather no less than 10 times over the past week. It was 68 degrees at race time, with just a little bit of sun. Looked like a perfect day for a 5K - I just had to double that - No problem, right? LOL...

The race was pretty disorganized. I could barely hear the announcements and no one seemed sure of where the starting line was. Luckily, I found the right spot for the start of the race and was in the first half of the crowd at the gun start. My friend, Bernadette, started right near me, but I had already warned her that I wasn't going to be able to pace myself with anyone but myself. I had to be "in the zone".

I started off with a little bit of a faster pace than I had originally planned, but I had so much adrenaline pumping that I couldn't help it. At the one mile mark, there was a guy with a timer who said "4:55" as I passed. I knew that couldn't be right. I looked down at my GPS and it said 7:55. I heard a few people yelling out, 'You are three minutes off, dude". Pretty funny.

The first 2 miles were flat. I saw the 5K turnaround and actually thought to myself that it seemed too early to turn around. Looking back, that is surprising because I am so used to the 5K. At the 2 mile mark, there was a steady uphill climb and then a turn onto a bridge. After that, we made our way through an office complex and onto a sand and gravel trail. That was challenging.

There was SO MANY water stations. I took a swig at three of them and then poured the rest on my head. The sun came out at about mile 4.5 which felt a lot worse than it was. The cold water definitely helped.

When I saw the 5 mile marker, I decided to sprint. It was a little difficult because that was around the same area that the walkers and 5K runners were coming in to their finish. I did a lot of dodging and a few puddle leaps (from the crazy rain we had the other night), but I managed to make it in.

My time was 53:51. I feel really good about it, since I was trying to get under an hour and my "pie in the sky" goal was 55 minutes.  There was 38 finishers in my age division and I was #11.