Race report

Or... running in the rain.... the day started with a 45 minute drive in the rain that turned into an hour drive (and then some).... Luckily I always give myself plenty of time to get new places - especially when I'm going to be racing. Granted this was only a 10k and I was really looking forward to it.. just something fun, no stress, no worries, but still I like to be prepared. (turns out I wasn't quite the girl scout I thought - more on that in a bit)

After several wrong turns and back tracking, I finally found my destination and was a little surprised to note that I was driving in mud by the time I got there. This is not a large race and I've learned that around here small races mean fast paces. Doesn't matter the conditions, the people that typically come to these races are fast. Faster than they were when I first started running races. Middle of the pack is faster than I am and I'm faster than I used to be so once again let's try not to finish last. There was a little added pacing confusion because this was a looped course. We started 5k and 10k runners together and once the 5k finished, there were like five people left on the course to go around for that second loop of the 10k.

So I did most of my warm up like a good girl and by the time I finished that I was completely soaked. Well, not completely, my shoes weren't soggy yet, but I took care of that in quick order at the beginning of the race by splashing in mud puddles that couldn't be avoided. Now these weren't just puddles, but truly mud puddles because this part of the course was dirt transformed to so much mud that my car traction control came on when I drove through it :) Lovely! But it was fun because I do like running in the rain and there were women there who obviously didn't.

The loops were a mix of dirt and pavement, lots of up and down hills most of which were very long with some short steeps at the top. Not exactly what I'd signed up for but I was in the moment and having fun. I determined after making it around the entire course once that this was NOT going to be a PR day - not going to happen, but it could certainly be a PR on a hilly course in the rain - and it was.

After the race, still raining .... harder now.... Got back to the car and realized I'd lost my girl scout badge for being prepared. No towel. I'd brought clothes to change in but no towel. Hmmm... what to do. Well, I did the only thing I could. I climbed in the back with the dog blanket and stripped and towelled off with that. Now you might imagine a dog blanket would be furry. You'd be right. So when I finished I was no longer wet, just mildy damp and very furry :) Then not wanting to face the rain again in mostly dry clothes, I climbed into the front seat. It pays to be small sometimes because I know the big guy who beat me for instance couldn't have climbed the seats of my VW :)

Now what's for lunch?