Road Race Series 2007-10k #1

Sunday's race was at Shelby Farms so I was excited to be running a race on familiar turf! I actually woke up on time for this one (remember the last race I ran...) and Greg didn't want to have to drive around forever to find a parking spot (they are pretty limited there) so we got there almost an hour before race time.

I was feeling pretty sleepy and I had time to spare, so I decided to just take a quick nap in the car while Greg was reading. He woke me up by laughing. At me. He had been looking at all the runners around us who were warming up and stretching out in preparation for the race and here I am just snoozing away. Hey man, everyone has their own rituals! But that's ok. Turns out that it was time to wake up anyway as there were only about 10 minutes until the gunshot.

Well what I didn't know was that the starting line was about a mile away. I guess I did get my warm up in after all, huh?

The weather was awesome. It was overcast and really cool...just perfect for a race. Then, at 6:59, the bottom fell out of the sky. And no, I am not exaggerating on the time. It really was RIGHT before the race. If only I had remembered to wear my signature hat!

I finished the race in 59:20 giving me an average of 9:33. Not a great time, but I'm ok with it. It was my first 10k, so I guess that makes it my PR. Woo Hoo!

My left calf muscle was really tight and aching for the first 3 miles, but then it kind of worked itself out. I also had some trouble with it yesterday and just like on Sunday, the pain eased up after a couple of miles. I should probably ice it.

Here are some more pictures of me in the race. Yes, I did make an effort to smile this time, especially after those last race pictures where I look like a psycho serial killer.

This guy has the right idea. Get more sleep before 7am races by learning to drink coffee while running instead of before. My hero.