The Red River Run

This past Saturday I ran my first 10k race. This race was 6 days removed from my first marathon. I felt recovered enough to do it and I really did not want this opportunity to pass me by. This was the first local race I had run in a while. The race was set to start at 3 pm and this was going to be my first afternoon race as well. I arrived an hour early and was getting anxious to line up at the starting line. This race was in its 17th year and attendance had doubled since the previous year. We lined up and the countdown began. The race director shouted go and off I took! My goal was to keep up with the runners in front as long as I could. I stayed with the guy in second place for the first three miles and then the fatigue began to slow my pace. I got to mile four and now I was not concerned with what place I was in, the goal now was to keep my speed up and not let the fatigue slow me down. I was moving as fast as possible and that voice in my head was screaming for me to stop. But I was determined to keep going and I was keeping the runners in front in view. Then came the hill during mile five. I was not going to let this incline slow me down. When I got to the hill, I started pushing myself so the hill would not slow me down. At last it was mile 6 and I could see the finish line. Another runner and I were neck and neck now and we started sprinting toward the finish. The other runner began to take the lead and before I knew it, we crossed the finish line! My time was a little over 42 minutes and I came in seventh place overall. After the race had concluded, the final results were posted. I ended up taking first place in my age group! I was proud of myself! The post race festivities were awesome! Great food and great music! I found myself wanting to do it all again! This was a small town race, but it had a big town feel! A day later, I was looking in the local newspaper to see if they had a story about the race, I opened up to the sports section and there on the front page was a picture of the runners taking off from the starting line. And I was in it! Overall the entire week was great! A marathon on Sunday and a 10k on Saturday. What a great experience!