First 10K in three years is in the books! A HUGE thank you to the crew at the River Towns Race Series for a wonderful trail run.
I was a little nervous about going by myself, but let's be honest... no one runs with me on a daily basis and Josh isn't waiting for me on the porch clapping and shouting my name when I finish a run anyway. Why wouldn't I run by myself?
The Robbins Run 5K/10K is a no-frills race and I loved that.. it was refreshing to not be around thousands of people with loud music and a bagillion vendors. You simply picked up your race shirt and number, then headed to the next station to get your timing chip. The end. I forgot how nice it can be to not be carting around a ton of stuff. What also really impressed me was that the race director saw our huge line of women waiting to use the restroom about 15 minutes before the race started and sent someone to monitor the men's room so we could have two lines and get through faster. (Thank you, thank you, thank you!)
The race itself was lovely. There's no other way I can describe it. You head up to a shady rail trail, cross a covered bridge, and then spend the next 1 1/2-2-ish miles on a packed dirt trail through the woods. Nice on the knees and the race crew had spray painted all of the tripping hazards fluorescent orange prior to the race. It's an extremely slight incline until you head out of the woods on a quick downhill to a water stop before you hit a short road section then head back onto a cross-country style section of the race. As I was jogging through this section, I was pleased to see the race director riding through on his bicycle, checking out the race. I was also pleased to realize that at this point, I maybe had half a mile or so to go, but I was still with a good number of people. I'm usually at the end of the pack, but something in me pushed me to be able to keep up with the masses.
As you start to near the recreation field, the 10k and 5k split. The 10k heads a little deeper into the woods before following a path that leads back to the covered bridge from the beginning and looping back through the woods and road section a second time. My mouth was so dry that I was almost choking each time I swallowed, so I decided to stop and a drink at the water stop... made the mistake of chugging Gatorade and cramped as soon as I started up the cross country section again. After the grass part, the 10k diverts back down to the road before winding into the woods a second time. This trail was much muddier and rugged than the other so I found myself walking a little bit, trying not to slip in the mud. (Let's be honest, I also walked the muddy portion because I was officially getting tired.) Right before the trail met up with the first 10k loop, there was a group of young ladies playing woodwinds as you passed through the meadow. Beautiful surprise!
Eventually you meet back up with the first 10k loop which meanders along a creek before you turn off to the last cross country section before the finish line. I crossed the line at 1:21:32.9, fourth from last. I was so appreciative of the ladies at the finish line taking the chips. They were clapping and shouting for me as I crossed and for someone who just wanted to drop to the ground at this point, that was a great boost. At the finish area, there were protein and Cliff bars and tons of water. The awards ceremony was well underway by the time I got there, but let's be honest, this will always be the case with me. I can go far, but I can't go fast... and honestly, I'm okay with that.
My only complaints about the race were the lack of mile markers and the little kids taking up the whole trail. Mentally, I need to see those mile markers to know what I'm accomplishing. My GPS was totally off and actually had me running 11 minute miles and hitting 7 miles by the finish. That's no one's fault but mine, but mile markers would have been great. And the kids... ohhhh, the kids. I think it's wonderful that parents want their children to run a 5k with them, but on the first lap of the trail, there were so many parents running ahead of their kids trying to get them to keep up. The kids were wandering across the trail, making it difficult to get around them without tripping. I actually saw one little boy give a great acting performance of "tripping" (read: throwing himself on the ground) and refusing to get up. It did give me a little giggle, but I was still a little irritated about the fact that the kids were all over the trail. I feel like that's what the fun run is for... or parents need to keep closer watch on their children and stay with them rather than running ahead, leaving it up to the other racers to watch their children.
All in all, this one will be happening again next year. I was so impressed with the trail and extremely impressed with the fact that the photos and results were up by the end of the night and the date for next year is already posted! Wonderful race, wonderful people, great support.
(Official race photos from SmugMug.com.)