Chile Pepper 10k

Whew, I'm behind on race reports.......Life and running is kinda getting in the way of blogging. Twittering however is a whole other story, lol. So if you want to keep up with what I'm doing on a day to day basis, join twitter and follow me :-)

Chile Pepper 10k 10/17--my first year for this race and boy oh boy did I love it. It's actually a cross-country festival with the open 10k first followed by the college, high school, and junior high races. It was so cool being able to watch the college men and women in their respective races. So fast and shoulder to shoulder. When you are a mid-packer like me, it's a lot more spread out.

I wasn't really feeling like running this race at all, tough work week and I got in on our yard to drop off truck and trailer right at 1830 Friday evening. Gave me enough time to throw whatever running gear into my pickup and head towards Fayetteville. Started getting tired by Clarksville and just decided to call it quits at Alma 'cause I was starting to drift a bit. The Comfort Inn and Suites at Alma was very nice by the way, even received my cdl discount without being in the big truck.

Upon arrival at Fayetteville I met up with Patti (and Brice!) and decided to do my warmup with her. Nice easy slow run, just perfect. It was during this though that she told me that she'd nominated me for the state RRCA Female Masters of the Year division. Completely floored me, was not expecting that at all. She is such a sweetie :). Of course she also told me that she thinks I'm going to BQ on my first marathon. Patti, I love you so much but I don't think that one will happen, LOL! I'm just looking to survive Wynne.....

I lined up in the rear (chip timed) and thought I would go slow my first mile to get warmed up and hopefully have negative splits. Same old refrain, good intentions and all that. I did however manage to keep a somewhat even pace throughout the entire race except for miles 2 and 3.

Garmin splits
Mile 1 8:05
Mile 2 7:55 (yeah got carried away here, lol)
Mile 3 8:16 (paid for the previous mile)
Mile 4 8:01
Mile 5 8:03
Mile 6 8:07
Mile 6.2 7:21

There was a "little" hill near the start that we had to go up 3X, first 2 I was strong, passed people both times, the third time however my stomach had started to cramp just before it so had to slow dramatically (surprisingly my split times don't show it too much). Had 4 women pass me on the hill the final time and was never able to reel them back in :(.

There was also a very muddy area that we looped through twice, the open division really chewed it up for the college runners. first time through not so bad, the 2nd time was SLICK and I almost lost my right shoe in it. Quite fun actually!

The final bit just before the finish line I sprinted past a 19 year old who was just running kind of steady, she picked it up and passed me right back. Very happy to say I made her work for that finish line though, LMAO!

Final results
49:21.28
259/576 overall
4/22 age group
Not sure where I placed in the female overall and I'm too tired and lazy too look it up right now.

Excellent race and this one is on the list of ones I WANT to run again. Had lots of fun and did I mention I set a new 10k personal record? Previous 10k pr was 51:50 on a much easier course.