9th Annual Run the River 10k

Maybe because I'm some kind of masochist, or maybe because I'm a little nuts, but I ran the Run the River 10k on Saturday. With very little preparation or training. In fact, the longest distance I had even completed during training prior to this race was 3 miles. Now I'm only counting training that began this year because I was on a hiatus for most of the winter. So technically I have handled 6 miles before, but it's been a while!

How was it you ask? Not bad! The course was very scenic (I even came across a couple donkeys). It was all along the Chattahoochee River in Roswell, so very nice nature scenes to look at. I don't think the course was quite as flat as advertised, particularly because of the ginormous hill around mile 3, but all in all it wasn't bad. I finished it in 1:26:22, which was under my goal of 1:30:00. I figured if I couldn't finish it in at least 90 minutes I had some major work to do LOL! The t-shirt was awesome, and I wore it that day after cleaning up. Breakfast with friends was great too. I can't believe they stayed and cheered me on at the finish. Talk about awesome!

Here's my only beef with the race: I know I'm slow. That's okay. The 10k group was small. That's fine too. But why start breaking down all of the race stuff (time card collections, THE FINISH LINE!!) prior to all participants completing the race? I happened to have an intact finish line when I finished, but the folks behind me didn't. I had to sneak my time card in the pile of cards on the table. Luckily there were an abundance of t-shirts left over so no problem there. I did feel pretty bad for the people slower than me, the ones who happened to walk the whole 10k. Let me state that it is absolutely acceptable to walk the whole race. The point is to finish it, not win it. We're not professional runners. I think to take away a decent finish for the slowest participants takes away from that joy you feel when you finish a race. That leaves a sour taste in your mouth. Oh well.

My advice for race organizers for next year? Start the 10k before the 5k, or start them at the same time. This reduces the amount of time volunteers have to be there, the amount of time the roads need to be closed (I had to finish the race on a trail, not on the road/official course), and it means the slower folks don't feel so lonely at the end of the race.

The next item on my agenda is to continue being consistent with my training. Even though I wasn't all that prepared for this race I felt great. I'm a little tired and stiff, but I'm not sore. Warrior Dash will be a piece of cake after this!