Okay going to be real about this race. I did it for years when it was on Saturday and well organized. It typically conflicts with other events, so it was hit or miss when I could do it. I entered it on a whim this year since it was on a Sunday. My coach was honestly not very happy for me to 1)enter a race during taper and 2)be doing a race post a long run. Sometimes I am kind of naughty when it comes to running with my dogs at races, as in I will do them even though they aren't a good fit for my training.
There was NO communication about anything, and I honestly thought maybe it was canceled this year. I even answered some of the questions on the FB event page that people were asking just to help others, because NO ONE else was answering any questions (and still haven't). To be fair, the event is run by students and different students each year at that, and the event page on the KSU page had everything you needed to know, thus the way I knew things. I just think people, including me, are super use to emails from the RD on things like packet pick up and start times and in just general reminders overall. Yeah, yeah, call me spoiled :)
The weather was not predicted to be good at all, which always worries me when you are running on sidewalks and they are talking about ice and snow. Luckily, they had packet pick up on Friday night from 5-6 pm, or else I would have to do packet pick up at 11:30 am and the race started at 1:30 pm (ICK). I would have had to camp out in my car for 2 hours waiting. There were a few booths this year with freebies and a radio station broadcasting, but the weather was cold, windy, and very overcast, so I pretty much stayed in the car. Now I know the RD can't make the weather behave, but I was super puzzled by the late start. It was cold this year, so it worked out, but I can't imagine doing this race when it is hot out and with dogs. I don't even know how to fuel for this kind of mid day race, so any suggestions would be appreciated! I ate something I normally eat, and even though I had it 2 hours pre race, I still burped the entire race.
I had to sub in Deuce in for Stella. If you read my weekly post, you saw that Stella broke a toe nail during our long run yesterday. While she acted like it didn't bother her at all, I just didn't want to chance her ripping it and it bleeding more. She was NOT happy to be left behind, but Deuce has never raced with me ever, so I figured now would be a good time to try him out. I was hoping with the weather that the crowd would be super small. Deuce is a HUGE lover of people and other dogs, so I knew large crowds and lots of dogs would be challenging for his very gregarious nature. When we got there, we walked around a bit, double checked the start time, and then went back to the car. It was still super windy and cold, and I didn't want to stand out in it. About 15 minutes prior to the race (we were parked fairly close to the start/finish) we headed out and got lined up. There were lots of dogs, but not as many as say Tails on the Trail, so his brain stayed in his head.
Shortly after starting, the sleet started coming down in earnest. It HURT! I had my glasses on, but they quickly became covered and icy, and I couldn't see out of them. The course was all new to me, weaving all through campus versus going out and around Manhattan and back through campus. I did like the course, it's just as I said in my weekly blog, it was SUPER short. I know all about running tangents and it wasn't that. I knew when I hit 5 miles and was pretty close to the finish that it was going to be short. The start kind of freaked deuce out with the air horn and the mass exodus, plus we immediately had to go onto a narrow side walk that had trees and trash cans on either side. Many of the dogs just stopped or freaked out in that funnel. There were only 12 of us signed up for the 10K, and I wanted the majority of the 5 K faster people to get out and get ahead of me. My plan was just to run hard and whatever pace hard was, embrace it. I didn't think this would be a PR race because of the conditions, but I still wanted a nice even effort. My overall pace for the distance my watch recorded was 9:38 miles, which is typically what I get for 10K races. The first mile is always my fastest thanks to deuce or stella pulling (9:01), and then I settled in and ran a 9:40, 9:53m 9:40, and 10:08. The back side of the course was pretty much all up hill, so the slower miles on that part don't surprise me. Plus, I could tell my legs were tired from the long run the day before, but I didn't care, I just wanted to push through.
I was SO proud of Deuce. He settled in and did really, really well. I could tell he got a little tired at the end, just like me, but he always stayed either right in front of me or right beside me. There was a young lady directly in front of me, and he liked trying to keep up with her. In fact we could have passed her at one point, but I hung back and let her finish ahead of us, just in case they had finish line photographers, which they did not. Crossed in 53:35, which would have been a lovely PR had it been an actual 10K. I was 9th out of 12 and 7th out of 10 females. There were no age group awards as they use to have, but instead 1-3rd overall. I was disappointed because I was the oldest female in the 10K, BUT I understand, the goal of this race is to make money for their cause, not give out medals. Anyway, we quickly loaded up after our bananas and one picture, and turned on the heat full blast and tried to warm up as we were both drenched.
He is such a hugger! He won't just take a selfie, he has to be hugging your face LOL! I was VERY pleased at how he handled the race. I was very pleased in how I performed and will be back again, even with the lack of communication because again, it's put on by a different class every year.
2018 Dog and Jog and Deuce's very first race is in the books and I am SO proud of him!!!!
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