After spending a few hours Friday helping with packet pickup for White Rock ‘n’ Roll I was getting pretty excited to participate in the race.  If you aren’t already excited all on your own for a race there’s no better way to get pumped than volunteering for a race.  Or at least maybe that’s just my opinion?!

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I slept in until 6:00 a.m. Saturday morning and was thrilled that I got to do that.  I was out the door by about 6:30 a.m. and immediately thought “man, it’s gonna be hot…wish this race was starting in 30-40 minutes from now Buuuuuttt I still liked sleeping in!”  Then I realize that my plan of bringing both my camelbak and my armband for my iPhone to choose between running with or without water was no longer an option as my armband was still sitting on the counter in my kitchen.  Pretty sure I was a big mess that morning as I also didn’t know where my headphones were but they magically appeared in my car. 🙂  Guess I should just be glad I made it to White Rock Lake period. Ha 😉

Before the race got started I got to see some familiar faces out there!  Fellow NTX Runner, Jesse, and two tweeps I’d made friends before knowing we all had running in common, Tom & Matt.  Great to see all of you out there!

The race got started and I’m pretty sure the whole time I was out there could be equated to me having hot flashes.  One minute I’m thinking this isn’t so bad there’s a breeze here in the shade! The next minute the shade goes away and holy cow I’m HOT!  This basically sums up how I felt the whole time.  The course was an out and back so I kept thinking just get to 5 miles and you got this!  A little bit before mile 5 I saw Jesse and was able to give him a little cheer since he was really one of the only people I knew running the 10 mile distance he was the only one I was looking for to see out there.

I know I started out fast which was not on purpose at all and I tried to keep it steady the rest of the way so I would survive in the heat.  Plus if I was going to have a chance of kickin’ it up a notch at the end I knew I needed to keep it at a steady pace.  My  main goal out there on the course was to finish it without walking. Accomplished. Very early on I thought that I should try for finishing under 1:30, but then I realized I was forgetting it was 10 miles not 9 and altered that goal to finishing under 1:35.

Another nice surprise out on the course was a familiar face at a water stop along the course, Paul!  He was giving out lots of encouraging and happy words to all the runners!  His pep was just what I needed when I saw him again on the way back! Thank you for that, Paul!

Pretty sure I’ve mentioned before I usually run with music, but there’s a majority of the time that I’m actually lost in my own thoughts than the actual music.  My ears did perk up though in the last mile as Beastie Boys – Fight for Your Right. Which helped push me to the end.  I didn’t have enough in the tank to kick it up a notch in the last mile, but I did have enough to sprint it out at the very end.

sprintin’ it in!

(Thanks to Jose Vega posting this picture on Facebook – hope it’s ok I stole it :))

My official results were 10 miles in 1:32:16 and I finished 6th in my age group.  Not too shabby!  Which also means my goal of running under 1:35 was accomplished!

Overall it was a good race!  Thank you DRC for putting on a great race and everything that y’all do!  Once the race was over I parked it on the grass to catch my breath and was able to finally meet a twitter running friend slash fellow NTX Runner, Alicia!  Just love getting to connect with people you spend time chatting with on the twitterverse!