Carolyn, Ari and I met up on Saturday for brunch at True Food in Scottsdale, then headed over to the race expo. It was a tiny little expo but it was nice to check it out :) We got some swag bags with the usual race expo goods. The race shirt is a really cute one and looks to be quite comfy!
On Sunday I met up with my fellow blogging friends Ari, Carolyn, Emily an Raya to run the Scottsdale Iron Girl 10k. Since Carolyn was staying with we for the weekend, we carpooled over to DC Ranch where the race was being held. After meeting up with the other ladies we hit up the bathrooms. Luckily the lines weren't too bad, but what was impressive was the fancy table out in front of the Porta-Potties – it was full of spare toilet paper and tons of bottle of hand sanitizer (I really should have taken a picture but didn’t want to be a creeper). I guess that’s how you know you are at an all-female event!
All Seeing Flashes photo’s are from Ari’s husband Steve
About 10 minutes before the start of the race we headed over to the massive crowd of ladies and found our way to what we assumed to be the middle. After one of announcements we realized that we were hanging out with all the walkers so we moved through the crowd to find a closer spot (and I’m so glad we did!). We hung out for a bit and took a few photo’s on our phones before the began :)
Please excuse my double chin…trying to take a group self portrait is challenging at times
Photo courtesy of Emily
Once the race started I immediately started to weave through the crowd and pass some of the slower paced folks – and tons of walkers!?! HUGE pet peeve of mine…if you know you are going to walk a race, please start at the very back not the front, I do not want to run you over.
At around mile 1ish (and the 5k turn around) it really started to clear out, which was nice. But it also started to get really warm, I regretted wearing my sweatshirt and ended up tying it around my waist for the remaining 5 miles. This was about when I picked up my pace a little. According to Ari’s Garmin we ran mile 1 in 9:38, mile 2 in 9:11 and mile 3 in 8:30. What?! An actual 8 minute and 30 second mile, that’s pure insanity. I am going to blame it on the slight decline of the road… After hitting the water station around mile 3 and turning around to finish the course I lost my running companion. Ari wanted to slow down a bit, but I still felt pretty good, so I kept up my pace.
Ari and I after our sub-1 hour finish times!
A couple minutes after parting with Ari, I saw Emily headed towards the water station and gave her a shout out and wave. A little later I saw Carolyn and Raya too – and yelled hello to them as well. Shortly after that is when the course got tough. I did pretty well on the first few hills, no big deal, I was able to stay strong. But then they just kept coming…hill after hill. The last thing I wanted was to see another hill after already running almost 4 miles. I got slower and slower, and started to walk up some of the larger hills since it used less energy than trying to run up them.
Luckily the scenery was quite nice, there wasn’t really any buildings near by – it was just me and the desert. Not to mention that my knees did absolutely fantastic! I was really worried some of the hills would trigger my pain, but all was well! From mile 4.5 on I was running with the same group of ladies. Occasionally they would start to walk and I would pass them and they’d pass me when I would walk. It was back and forth for a few miles.
When mile 6 rolled around I knew I had to kick it up a notch and pass them once and for all. I slowly cruised past them, gearing up for the finish line. Once the finish line was in sight I sped up a bit and noticed a girl running next to me at about the same speed…so I sped up a little more…then she did the same. I finished the race in an all out sprint – but I beat her!! by 1 second (yes I checked the results to confirm this). I am a competitive person down to my core and the thought of beating her pushed me through :)
Photo courtesy of Emily
I ended the race with a new 10k personal record (PR)!! I finished in 57:34, which is a 9:17/mile pace (oh and 14th place in my division..)! I a pretty darn proud of that number considering the fact that this was the hardest course I’ve run to date (those dang hills!).
And I have this wonderful new medal to add to my growing collection :)
In case you’re interested in reading recaps from the rest of the ladies here are a few links:
Raya Pickett
Speedy Gonzales!!! I'm so proud of you! Thank you for pushing me those first 3 miles!!
ReplyDelete