Swamp Run 10k

Haven't really posted lately (that's how all my posts start). As the title says, I ran the Swamp Run 10k a couple of months ago. I really didn't even want to go, but my husband was already committed to watching the kids. Seriously, who would pass up that opportunity on a Saturday morning?!

I drove out to the Swamp Park, hopped out of the car, and realized it was freezing! I had on shorts and a light t-shirt. D'Oh. Either I didn't notice the temperature in my frenzy to get out of the house or it dropped 20 degrees in about 10 miles. Either way, I was not really happy.

I grabbed my bag, threw on the long sleeve race shirt, and wandered around doing that pre-race thing- go to the car, get the Garmin, drink water, lock car, put key in shoe pocket, freak out thinking I need something else, get key out, open car, repeat.

Finally I decided I was just going to have to be cold and left the race t-shirt behind. I was concerned that wearing the t-shirt before the race would guarantee a twisted ankle.

The race starts. I have no expectations. I started out at what felt like a slow pace. The first mile is on the road. Somewhere around mile 2 you head into the trails. (Trails are really just narrow grassy paths). It was hard to pass on the trails, and I was actually feeling like moving fast now. Got to another open road and started passing people. It felt a little risky to pass people around mile 3 and 4, but I was feeling strong. I even passed a girl who totally killed me at the Gate River Run last year (I expected her to get me back, but she didn't. Sweet!)

There's a turn-around on the roads, which was a nice distraction. There weren't that many people in front of me. Since it's an out and back course, I tried to push it some to avoid any log jams on the trail. I saw my friend Mary. She yelled some encouragement, as always. (Mary is in her late 50s, but crazy fast!) I pushed past her and headed home.

I saw two men ahead of me the last half mile. I passed both, expecting they'd catch me in the end. I never really have a final sprint. They didn't catch me! Shocking. Final time: 52:10. A new PR and good enough for 2nd in my age group and a little trophy.

I hung around with the old runner guys after the race who let me in on their trash talking- that was hilarious. Me and the 60 year old guys. They had a big pancake breakfast too. Usually I skip it, but this time I thought "hello, pancakes!"

All in all, pretty fun. Oh, and when I looked in the race results later, the two guys I passed were like 67 and 14. Yeah, I felt a little bad about that...