Today I ran the Earth Day 10k in South Jordan, Utah–once again with our Blister Sisters posse. None of us had ever run around that city before, so we didn’t know what was in store for us. And I’m sure none of us were expecting a LOT of hills . . . and rain . . . and more hills . . . and wind. It really wasn’t too bad, though, because I’d rather run under cloudy skies and in cold weather than under cloudless skies and in blistering heat. But I’m getting ahead of myself . . .
I wanted to run this race smart, not go out too fast, and stick to a one-mile-run, one-minute-walk strategy. I think I did all of those things well, though I think I went out a little too fast. Not too bad, though. The first two miles were fine and flat, but right around mile 2.5, we started going uphill, then uphill some more, then kind of flat, then uphill again, then up and across a pedestrian bridge over the highway, then it was kind of downhill, then we went uphill again . . . Seeing a trend here? Anyway, we finished an uphill part, then there was a steep decline–which is where I think I made up some time. Then it was slightly uphill to flat to the finish. I overshot a turn–along with some other runners–and had to backtrack and catch the correct turn. Sigh. I totally could have finished before about 5 more people. Oh well. I finished in 1:03:54 (28th place overall and 11th in the 1-30 age group). A little slower than my first 10k, but I’ll take it considering the ridiculous amount of hills. š I really do love the 10k distance.
The race was really small–I’d say like 60-75 runners–which was nice. It meant there was a better chance that a gal in our group would win an age group or a raffle prize. And two of us did–a raffle prize, that is! I won a $20 gift card to a local pizza place, and another Blister Sister won a gift bag from Chik-fil-a. Good times. The finish line food and stuff was really good too. Chik-fil-a breakfast sandwiches, fruit, water, rootbeer, and chocolate chip cookies. The swag bag was also pretty good. Nice tech shirt with a cute design, actually useful coupons and a bulb for a butterfly plant, which I thought was cool since it was an Earth Day race (even though Earth Day is on Monday).
The route was really hilly, but I kind of feel awesome that I ran a good race on hills. The course support was pretty good, though I wish the finish area route were marked a bit better and that the race weren’t so far from home (little over a half hour). I’m only saying the distance thing is a problem because we have like a billion races in my town. All in all, it was a good race, and I’d run it again.
Nice Run! That IS a really great race shirt for a small run! good times š