Possum Trot 10K

Wow, I didn't post anything last weekend. I ran 9 miles. (3 hungover and 6 fine). The G-dog ran too. We planned on running 3 on Tuesday, but something came up at work for 15 hours, so no run. And the rest of the week was my taper, and fighting not to get sick.

D, A and I planned on running the Possum Trot 10K awhile back. So I was already. Long runs, short runs, fast runs and of course slow runs.

D had been sick for a few weeks, so it was questionable whether he was running. By Friday it was obvious he was not going to be running it. He said he would come. Friday night, we went to bed early.

Saturday came fast. At 455am, the alarm went off. I knew D wasn't getting up. I got up, let G-dog out (Porter opted to stay in bed). I continued getting ready. When I was all done, I let G-dog back in. She promptly went to the door and sat down. She was ready to go as well. I felt so bad looking at that face. Oh well.

I left her, and off to pick up A. We didn't know where we were going but we had to be to the parking lot by 615 or else we had to walk 1 mile to the race. Neither of us felt like adding 2 miles to the 10K we were doing. So we got in, went and got our race numbers and then sat in the car for 35 minutes, yakking and guessing who did we think we could run with. There were 2 women in matchy-matchy orange and white outfits. Looked like tennis outfits. We both made fun of the fact it was A's bday and she got up at 445 in the morning. Finally it was time to get up and get ready. I got on my knee brace, A did the Body Glide thing, and off to walk to the start (only .25 miles away).

Walked past the 1 mile kid's fun run. This was a cool idea. There was maybe 1 kid doing the 10K.

We got toward the back of the pack, talked to some people, and finally the race started. The course was along the Chattahoochee River, and it was really nice. I had a little trouble getting into the groove along mile 1. I looked at Garmin, and my pace was all over the place. At .25 miles they had a water stop. It threw me off. And the 1 kid that was in the race bitched to his mother for the next mile because she wouldn't let him stop. They would sprint past me and then walk. It was quite annoying. One of the orange ladies was about 10 feet in front of me.
Mile 1 was 13:38.

During Mile 2 I got some water. We ran up to Roswell Rd. It was the first hill. At the top, we turned around. Around here I passed the orange lady. I past the kid at the water station and never looked back. There was an Iron Girl. She was walking running. It seemed she would walk, I would pass her, she would run past me. It was a bit annoying. We finally hit Mile 3 at 41 minutes. I was doing pretty good.

Since this part of the race was out and back, I also passed the last person/police car. Which meant, they would open the road once everyone was around the Roswell RD turnabout. They put everyone on the Chattahoochee trail, and opened the road. This added some (not much) distance onto the race. So I was running, and Orange Lady flew past me. I was like WTF? I really didn't have energy to catch her. This other lady passed me too. I got to Mile 4 at 57 minutes.

My legs really hurt. My pace was very slow. I decided to walk. My pace immediately shot up. I walked .25 miles, and then started running again. I passed the finish line. I kept looking for A. Hadn't seen her yet. Finally I saw her at mile 5 (73 minutes). I yelled her name and she looked up. She looked spent. I wished I was at her place (only .4 miles to go). Anyway the other hill of the race appeared. I tried running up it, and my time went to 17 min/mi, so I walked up it. I ran down. The race people were making the street open in one direction by putting up cones. The driver was not the most abled person...he nearly hit me. He got a "Watch it!" I think the "dumb fuck" was only mumbled. I got to the turn around, and they cut off the road. The cones right there had tape on them and my legs were too tired to go over the ribbon. That time the "Dumb fuck" was loud enough to hear. A woman who had been in my rear view the entire race, was able to get ahead of me. I got back to the hill, and walked up it again.

I ran down the hill, and kept going. I hit mile 6 at 88 minutes. I didn't see the finish line. Came around the bend and the speakers on the car told me to smile...there was a photog taking pics. I'm waiting for them to be uploaded.

I finally saw the finish. I ran as fast as I could. Which wasn't fast. I finally crossed. Their time was 92 something. But since no chip (it is Atlanta), I go by my watch. I got 91:58. PR!!!!!

A was waiting at the end of the finish line chute, which seemed to be forever. She did well too. 75 minutes.

We went and got our shirts and loot. Water was available. Smoothies were available. Great post. And because I'm so slow, by the time I finished the parking lot was open again. We drove home and I dropped off A.

Tooled around for a bit, and then D and I got ready for the East Atlanta Beer Festival. It sucked beyond belief. About 500 too many people, and all grocery store beers, and too much focus on pale ales. I love pales but after 5 they all taste the same. So after an hour we left. I mean seriously, a line 15 deep for Lagunitas and Fat Tired? I just didn't get it.

We got our drink on at Midway, and took a cab home.

I had a great day!

Time: 91:58
Mileage: 6.3 (14:35 min/mile)
Calories: 1560
Max HR 181
Avg HR 150
In Zone 13:26