I Knew I Was Slow, But...

In a vane attempt to get a higher corral placement for the Wine and Dine Half, Mark and I decided to get in a little more local race experience and signed up for the Senior Bowl Charity 10K a week before going to Disney.  

Up until this point, we'd done probably two local races, both 5Ks.  We knew to expect a smaller race with intermittent water stops and no real crowd support.  Well, we got that right, but we didn't account for one thing:  people around here are FAST!

See, we're used to 5Ks and Disney races where there are people of every running level, plenty of leisurely walkers and even some kids.  And we saw plenty of those walking to the line.  But when we got to the start line, we thought "Uh oh."  These people did not look like our people.  They looked like serious runners.  Even the guy with the backpack with a six-pack of Budweiser stored in it looked like he'd be running 7 minute miles. All of our people were running the 5K.

There were no corrals, so we snuck into the back of the start line crowd.  Nearly precisely at 8:30 ish, the start gun went and we were off.  Or should I say, they were off.  Even though mark and I ran the fastest mile of our lives, the bulk of the pack took off like shot!  Mercifully there were a handful of other turtles like us so we didn't feel completely alone.  It was pretty warm for October and I started to feel the humidity, so around mile 3 I sent Mark along on his merry way.  Even then, I ran some of my fastest paces so far, beating my 5K PR and hitting 4 miles under 1 hour.  And I wasn't last.  Which I let every policeman and person waiting for the road to open know.

Oh, and even though the road was closed, I almost got hit by a car.  I mean, I felt something right on my left hip and turned and IT WAS A CAR!  I don't know how she got there, but one of Mobile's finest was not doing their job at that point.

Oh, and I chicked a 70 year old man who shuffled the entire way.  Race accomplishment!

For the record, 500 or the 700 runners finished in less than 1 hour.  See?  Fast.

So even though I didn't do well enough to move up a corral and finished last in my AG, I was really proud of my race.

And then, the next day, the local newspaper website captured my moment of glory for everyone I know to see.  I guess that's what happens when you dress like a walking glow stick.