Long Run for The Children 10.5k Race Report

Well this morning I participated in the Long Run for the Children 10.5K race.  This was the first year of this race and it had a great turnout which I predict will have an even better turnout as the years go by.  You could do the 5K, 10.5K or both.  I opted to do the 10.5K race.  Bug and my mom ran the 5K race.

Night before the race.

Instead of eating pasta, I opted to eat pizza.  This is fast becoming a favorite pre-race meal.  Because my throat is starting to feel sore, I drank two glasses of orange juice, took some Nyquil, and called it an early night around 10. 

The morning of the race.

The alarm went off at 5:50 a.m., which came way too early.  I lounged around for about 10 minutes before finally getting up and getting ready.  I still had to go pick up our packets and get breakfast.  The goodie bag offered a unique gifts, like a water gun, which Monkey has been using on us all afternoon.

I got my pre-race breakfast of an Egg Mcmufffin from McD's and Diet Coke.  YUM!!!  Perfect breakfast.  At 6:30 I got Bug up, made her eat a pop-tart (she's not an early morning eater) and my mom arrived promptly at 7.  We left the house at 7:10 so my mom could register and we could get ready.

Here's a mini-recap of the conversation that I had with my left hip before the race:

Me: Hip please let me get through this race and I promise not to run on you until after I've seen the doctor.
Left Hip: I'm not making any promises and I'm already starting to ache, so we shall see.
Me: Please just get through these 6.53 miles.

As you can see, the hip had already started rearing its ugly head way before the race started.  I was worried that I was going to get my first DNF and I just wasn't having that.  So I took enough pain killers to try and stop it before it got too bad.

At 7:20 they started getting everyone ready.  The race started promptly at 7:30.  I started in the back with my mom and Bug but before long I found myself just cruising along.

Mile 1 - 9:06
Mile 2 - 8:55
Mile 3 - 8:23
Mile 4 - 8:24
Mile 5 - 8:20
Mile 6 - 8:21
.53 - 8:17
Total miles: 6.53
Total time: 55:51
Average pace: 8:33
Total calories burned: 666 (didn't like that one too much but what can you do.)

I took a raspberry hammer gel 15 minutes before the race started and then a tropical (it contains caffeine) around the 3.5 mile.  I also grabbed some water at this time.  At mile 2 and right between miles 3 and 4 they had the local firefighters with the hoses out spraying the runners down.  I opted not to get sprayed because I knew that once it dried it was going to be muggy than it already was, but it was nice to have it them out there.  Also at mile 2 I was running with this boy and girl.  When my watch beeped to let me know we passed another Mile, I told him that he only had a 1.1 miles to go.  That boy and girl took off like speed racers.  I hope they did well.

I came in 2nd female overall in the 10.5K, 20th place, and 1st place for my age group (25-29).  I was so happy that even though I could feel the hip pain throughout most of the run, it didn't stop me.  I told myself that stopping was not an option and as you can see, my times reflect that I actually stayed on a good pace the whole time.

So I have no more races on schedule until October when I compete in my second half marathon.  I'm hoping to get the news that my hip is inflamed at the doctor's office on Tuesday and that he'll give me something to help cure it. 

Angela