I signed up for the 15k which was to begin at 8:30 am.  The 5K would begin at 10 am.  I was tempted to switch & sleep in or switch to the 10K.

I was afraid of a repeat of what happened to my foot last weekend and make my foot worse.

last year at the 10K

This is my second year running this race and I am familiar with the course.  It is where I do a lot of my long training runs.

with Judy here a few weeks ago

Last night this race included a free pasta dinner & packet pick up.

The food was really good.  It was catered by D’Raymonds, a local Italian restaurant. There was salad, bread, pasta, wine, and lots of homemade desserts. It wasn’t a buffet.  They actually served you. I ate A LOT!!

Last year I got invited to sit with two lovely older runners.  We had some great discussions….about running, of course and have seen each other several times since.

This year, these ladies couldn’t come so I sat with some older runners that I know since we run many of the same races. It was fun.

Then all of a sudden I got cold feet about running the 15K.  So I did it – I SWITCHED TO THE 10K!!

I know you are surprised but I didn’t want to run 9.3 miles on a sore foot. I would have switched to the 5k if it was run at the same time.

Anyway, we lucked out with the weather – sunny, no wind and warm. I even wore a tank top and brought a jacket just in case.

I wore my new shoes, thorlo padded socks, moleskin pad under my foot, etc and all other precautions against blisters and foot pain. (Spoiler alert: it didn’t work.)

I arrived early to make sure I got parking and to look for people who I knew.  I found parking in the closer lot and then walked over to the start.

I immediately ran into Barbara whom I met on FB.

We hung out and chatted.  In fact, we had to wait quite a while for the race to start.

chatting with Barbara. Valerie is on the right.

Apparently they were blasting a bridge that we would have to run under.

At least the weather was nice but THERE WERE NO BATHROOMS. There are some in 2 nearby locations but they were locked.

So we waited and were entertained by music.

and the timing workers dancing

Finally the race started (about a half hour late).  The 10K and the 15k started together.  Same course, the 10Kers just turned around sooner.

I started toward the front but not too near the fast runners.

I went out fast of course because I knew that I would slow down – bad attitude, right?

The course is lovely. You run along the Hudson River but unfortunately, my foot did not cooperate again.

I was already walking through the water stop at 1.5 miles.

This was a sign that the race would be going downhill.

I willed myself to keep up an even pace until the turn around of this out and back course. (In fact, I was at 28 minutes at the 3.1 mark – PR pace.)

You would think that there would be water then but nope not again until about mile 4.5.  It was warm and I was thirsty.

Finally, I decided to have some Gu to get more energy around mile 4.

I walked twice during the first half but at least twice that during the second half.

My foot was hurting and it really sucked!!  I hate running in pain!!

But I decided to just walk/run until I finished.  I knew that I would not PR (even though it was an easier course than the one I did PR for).

As I approached the finish line, I tried to finish under 58 minutes but could not.

I crossed at 58:19

So it wasn’t a PR but it was actually my 2nd fastest 10K ever. Just think of what I could have done if my foot was not killing me?

Race Splits:

mile 1 –  8:53
mile 2-  9:15  (water stop)
mile 3 –  9:17
mile 4 –  9:53 (walking has begun)
mile 5 –  9:52 (water stop & lots of walking)
mile 6 –  9:38  (less walking)
.2 –  8:19

I had some refreshments and waited for the 5k to begin.  Homemade cookies, brownies and cakes – YUM!

I stayed because I wanted to cheer on my new friends and some SRMs that were running it.

with Laurie from the Turkey Trot training group

I also began to feel better about my race.  My time wasn’t bad.  I beat my time from last year in this same race!! And now that I was done, my foot felt fine!

It was fun cheering the 5k finishers.  I rarely do this because I usually only go to to races when I am running in them.

3 SRMs

Being a small race, it seemed that almost everyone got age group medals.

I was glad that I switched from the 15K. Since it was a new race, they didn’t give out medals for the 15K- just trophies for 1st, 2nd & 3rd place. I would have been pissed if I ran 9.3 miles and got nothing.

waiting for the results (with Laurie)

Last year. I got 3rd.  This year,  I got FIRST place!

In the 5K, Valerie got 2nd and Laurie got third – We were all winners!

All in all, not a bad race but not what I hoped.  I wished that my foot was feeling better.

Because it was such a nice day, I decided to test my foot further. I walked back to my car and then ran/walked 2 miles, rested my foot and then ran/walked back to my car. My pace was about 13 min/mile.  But I got the miles in and I went home and iced my foot.  Hopefully it is not worse and I can find a way to heal quickly!

 

Happy Running!  How was your weekend? Did you run or race?