Last week, when I saw my new marathon training plan called for a 10k race this weekend, I searched for a 10k near Charlotte. The only one I found was in Asheville, about 2 1/2 hours away. We have been doing a lot of travelling lately but I really wanted to stick to my plan. Malissa and I came up with what I think is a great idea. We will take turns taking one of our three kids, with one parent, for some quality one on one time. So I took Michael with me to Asheville to run in this 10k.
The spaghetti dinner on Friday was at 5:30 PM, so I picked Michael up early from school (score for him) so we could make it in time. We had a really fun drive up to Asheville and checked in to the hotel at around 4:30 PM. We watched TV in the hotel for a little while, then headed over to the spaghetti dinner. It was a fundraiser for the PTA of the elementary school (as was the race) so it was a single serving and wasn't nearly enough food (but was delicious.) So we headed to a grocery store and bought some bagels, chips, and granola bars for hotel snacks.
We watched some more TV in the hotel room, set the alarm for 6 AM, and went to bed around 9 PM. When we awoke, we headed downstairs for a very nice Holiday Inn Express breakfast, then back upstairs to get ready for the race and check out of the hotel.
It was a little chilly and threatening rain so we waited inside the school's auditorium until a few minutes before the race.
Michael before the race
When we stepped outside we saw that the rain had picked up a lot, but wasn't too cold (around 45 degrees.) We ran some quick strides and were ready to go.
Mile 1: The race starts off with an immediate down hill that is pretty substantial. This was one race where I didn't mind starting off way faster than what I could manage for the entire race. We did the first half mile at a 6:05 pace, yikes! Just before the 1st mile marker, Michael told me he was going to let me go ahead. We had talked that I really wanted to race this one, instead of run with him, so this was expected.
That's me in the neon shirt
Miles 2-6: Nothing very eventful happened, except for the rain picking up quite a bit. We were soaked and dodging big deep puddles the whole way. I was trying to maintain a 6:55 pace, which is much faster than anything I had ever done before, but it had been a long time since I raced. Even in my marathon I was never racing, just wanted to enjoy the experience. I maintained the 6:55 pace all the way, and enjoyed the race a lot.
After I finished I immediately walked back down the hill so I could get the earliest possible sighting of Michael. He was only 3 minutes behind me and also enjoyed the race very much.
On the last uphill before the finish.
We waited inside for the award ceremony, hoping Michael had won his division. We were thrilled when they called out his name for 1st place (see video below). To be honest, I was hoping I would place also, but didn't think it was possible. I'm not disappointed, 6th out of 54 is better than I expected.
We enjoyed talking about the race for the 2 1/2 hour drive home and created a ton of great memories. Unfortunately I am horrible at taking pictures (Malissa is our family photographer) so I only have these few to post, but will try harder if we ever when we do this again.
