10k...

So I did end up running the 10k Saturday at the 2014 Fort4Fitness extravaganza. It really wasn't that bad. I stuck to my pre-race strategy pretty well, and we all lived to tell about it (and have the traditional post-race $1 beer).

This was my 3rd year in a row of running the F4F. The first 2 years I ran the half-marathon. This year I wasn't planning to run at all - what with all the issues of this past year (plantar fasciitis, stopped running, started smoking, etc.) - but I ended up registering at the last moment. As I've stated here previously, I did run 3 miles on the treadmill last Monday, and I haven't smoked for 2 whole weeks, so I thought I'd give it a shot. I'm glad I did. It is such a fun time. I'm also glad I just did the 10k, because even though I still had plenty of energy left at the end, I don't think my legs would have lasted another 10k on top of it.

This was the first year that Jane, Carrie and I all ran together. That made it even more fun, and I probably wouldn't have made it by myself. We all stuck together and chatted pretty much the whole way. We averaged right around 12-minute miles and everyone was still in good shape at the end. I even mowed the lawn later that afternoon.

As for the race, it started at 7:30am. That seemed a bit early, but fortunately it was pretty warm even then. This was the warmest it's been at the start since I've been running it. It was almost 60f, so no sweatshirt or sweats were needed. We arrived about 7, parked in the lot right at the start line, made a potty break in a Parkview Field restroom, and had plenty of time to spare. There seem to be a TON of walkers in the 10k, and sooooo many of them seem to start in front of where they ought to. We started in corral G and had to maneuver around way too many 'groups' of walkers. They should make all the walkers start in the furthest corral. Anyway, we kept our pace early and didn't get too winded. Jane and Carrie even stopped to pee around the first mile marker (in a porta-potty, not on the course). It's always great seeing all the people standing out along the road cheering us on and just plain ol' having a good time. My knee started to hurt briefly around the 3-mile mark, but it didn't last. I wore a knee brace just in case.  And we actually finished in right about 75 minutes (just what I thought).

Afterward we got our bottle of water, pretzels, chocolate milk, and banana, then used our $1 coupon to get a beer. I chose the Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (as always). We hung around for a little while, and chatted with a few people we knew, then we headed for home. We dropped Carrie off at our house - since they were having the garage sale there - and Jane and I went to Spyros and got a big breakfast. Then we went back to our house with all the Feipels and did a garage sale the rest of the day.

Oh, I almost forgot, Drew brought the kids up to Lutheran Park, along the way, and I don't know if they were more excited to see us running or we were more excited to see them along the way, but we stopped briefly and then went on.

I actually didn't feel bad at all Saturday. We did go to bed early though. We went to bed at 8:30 pm, and slept until almost 8:30 the next day. I got up about 3:30 am and took an ibuprofen. Then when I did get up, I took another. My legs were sore, my heel was sore, my feet were sore, and for some reason my arms were sore. It was nothing serious, but it definitely makes a difference trying to run with no training.

Next year we are all hoping to do the half again. And I would like to try to do a full marathon still at some point. The Columbia City marathon is in October. Definitely not doing it this year, but hopefully next.

Fun times.