Another 10K in the bag

Yes, it's true...I completed my second 10K race. (You can check my older posts for details on my first one if you're interested.) But last Saturday I ran in the "Run 4 Kids 10K race" held in Coral Canyon which is off the I-15 and the Hurricane exit. This race was a family oriented race where adults and kids of all ages could participate in either the 10K, a 5K or the 1 mile walk/run event. It was so cute to see little 5 year olds dart off as soon as the gun went off. I remember thinking "pace yourself...you still have the entire mile to finish".

I ran this race with my friends Brooke and Kris again. I have a love/hate relationship with Brooke when it comes to races. I hate that she talks me into these races but I love that she gives me the most encouragement that I can do them. She tells me that I'm good for her too, but I think she has more to offer me than I do her. I guess we just work well together. You're awesome, Brooke!

This race ended up being a real challenge. A few days before the race we received a copy of the race's course for that day. So I decided to drive it the next morning to see what we would be up against. Let's just say I discovered the last mile and a half to two miles were uphill. Not just any uphill...it was a continuous incline up. Having to run uphill is like having a root canal!

We were already familiar with Coral Canyon and knew that there were going to be some hills. So we had trained to do more miles (up to 7 miles) and decided to run the uphill parts that we had previously walked. But we didn't realize the extent of our "future" challenge until I had drove it. I came home somewhat discouraged yet somewhat a little confident that I could handle it. (Based on the excruciating practice runs we already had behind us.) But long story short...we ran that uphill stretch with the best of our abilities and crossed the finish line 3 minutes earlier than our last race. We did it people...we finished that race in 1 hr. 11 mins. And I came in 9th place in my age division.Here I am just about to cross the finish line. Their race clock had some burnt out light bulbs so the time looks funny. The time showing is actually 1:10:49. That was my "real" time, but they have to scan my number which is the actual time that gets recorded for the race. So really I beat my previous time by 4 minutes. Which to some may seem like nothing, but considering our circumstances I think we did pretty good.

Left to right: Brooke, Kris and me (and their kids did the 5K race)

Stay tuned for details to come next month as I take on my third 10K race. I have a goal to complete this race in 1 hour. The third time is charm, right?