Pacing For Pretzels

Hey Strangers. 

Sorry I have been MIA, I promised myself when I started P4P I would post in a steady, consistent manner. But life keeps getting in the way and I don’t feel much like talking to anyone (not the healthiest coping mechanism).  However,  there is one thing worth mentioning and that is the  speedy 10k(+) I ran on Saturday morning at the Halloween Hustle.

Friday was stressful and I wasn’t exactly looking forward to running  a race on Saturday morning. I met my friend Shannon for sushi after a failed attempt to find Halloween costumes (note to self: do not shop for such things the day prior). I then went home and dillydallied till midnight. At midnight, I had nothing prepared for my morning race, but figured “Whatever, I am running as a devil how serious can I take this?”.

6:30am, alarm goes off. I hear the rain outside and think of every possible excuse to skip this race. Alas, I don’t. I run out the door just in time to pick up our race packets (there was no pre-race packet pick up – say that 10x fast).

Upon arrival I met up with my two friends, Shannon and Kim,  who I convinced to run the 5k. Shannon was a fun little Halloween icon with purple striped tights and the cutest skull headband along with a festive Halloween t-shirt. Kim had planned to be a ladybug and spent her Friday night sewing red dots all over her pants. However, she wanted wings and actually ran to Wally World before the race to grab them. Unfortunately, even Wal-Mart is out of wings on Halloween, so she settled for the most adorable bunny.

Before the race:

I am waiting for Shan to post the pictures of the three of us.

Probably 50% of the people were not dressed up – but the other 50%? Hysterical. There was a man in a full gorilla costume complete with mask. This gorilla went on to place in probably the top 5 – he definitely wooped me! I would have died running in a mask and hairy black suit. After the race he was holding a big sign that read “Free Hugs” and I made sure to get mine. Who wouldn’t want to hug a hairy, sweaty gorilla? I love the mystery of full costume. The REAL QUESTION is, would I have wanted to hug him sans gorilla suit?

I had only run one 10k  prior (Run For The Red – August 2009) and wanted to set a new PR. When the race began I knew I was on a roll. I set a pace at about 7:50. I didn’t think I could maintain it the entire race but it felt so easy (0kay, not so easy… more like doable). The race overlapped with the 5k, so there were more than a few times where I had to ask which direction to go. I cannot for the life of me decipher whether a 10k is orange or green signs when I am running my little heart out. This may have been a problem. I was set to finish the 10k in under 50 minutes, but I hit 6.2 miles on my Garmin and the race was nowhere near over. When I crossed the finish it read 6.67, and some people claimed to have done 7.3!

We didn’t stick around for the race results, because, well, we never do. When I received an email on Sunday with the results I was shocked. I would have gotten an award had I stayed! I was the 4th female to finish and the 2nd female to finish in my age category (and 13th overall, after the gorilla and a few other crazy houligans). This would have been my first award, darn it. I still ended with a PR (despite running an extra half mile) of 52:29. This was a sub 8 minute mile (at 6.67 miles, of course)!! CAN YOU TELL I AM PROUD?

Shannon and Kim did awesome in their 5k. It was Kim’s first race and she finished with sub 10 minute miles! I love when people pick up running. That means I get more running buddies.

Toodles, hopefully I come back here sooner than later… No promises.

Tags: 10k, halloween, PR, races, running