EVENT: Run for the Memorial 5K/10KDATE: Saturday, September 11, 2010
LOCATION: Rosemead, CA
RACE BEGAN: 08:00 am
FINISH TIME: 00:51:46 (Garmin; tag time: +2 seconds)
Without giving super-specific information about where I live (you can see the About page for the vicinity), I was very excited to be doing a local race!
I had not done a 10K since 2008, at least one not involving mud, so I was looking forward to gauging my fitness level. I wanted to do the 5K, but since "The Ukrainian," The Councilman, the BFF, and her friend Mak all decided to take the long route, I'm glad I decided to be more ambitious!
Course Map -- Definitely weird to be running a race on routes that I've trained on numerous times...
So here is a parade of pictures that surrounded this event!
Above: Packet pick-up. T-shirts (with the logo at the top of this post) were given, along with a few other small goodies like a car freshener!
Above: Denny's dinner, because I was craving breakfast foods like mad. I eat there pretty frequently due to a 20% discount that I get, and their food is actually getting more and more healthy. I had an egg-white omelet with spinach, pico de gallo, and avocado.
Above: This is the "before" shot....So we started at a little after 8 AM, and by the time I rounded out the first mile, I was already feeling quite tired. The sun was already shining pretty strongly, but at the point, I was just trying to keep a consistent pace.
Because there were only a few hundred runners, I often felt like I was running dead last, because during the race, only one person passed me (though I passed many people!). This is definitely foreign, as I'm used to running in big races.
I had to run under dreaded freeway passes twice during this race, and during the 4th mile, went up the same darn hill that we went down earlier. However, since I have been training on hills, I passed two people on them. =)
Above: My goodness, the "after" shot always contains sweat, I guess.
Above: They carted this beam over from the debris of 9/11. I saw this as I was approaching the last loop before the finish line. I thought I was going to throw up at this point, given the heat and exertion. Seeing this and thinking about 9/11 gave me the inspiration to keep going until the end! I am happy to report that I did not stop a lick during this race!This equates to a huge 10K PR smashage (from 54:33 two years ago to 51:46). Found out later that I placed 4th in my age group, 9th overall for females (out of 31). Not great, but not bad...
After the race, I proceeded to play around while we waited for our friends to finish:
And here they were!
I wanted to place so that I could take pics with these UFC celebrities, but I didn't even come close in spite of my decent performance. :(
The aftermath:
Above: Mediterranean buffet... "The Ukrainian's" beautifully-arranged plate.
Above: Followed by this movie...
Above: And a few games!
Congrats on the PR! Funny that you ran by the house.
ReplyDeleteI hear Denny's also has a vegan burger now too. Good to see there are more healthy choices.
Way to go! Looks like it was a great experience. Although I bet it was weird running in a smaller race than you're used to.
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