Monument 10K

Why do I always get sick before a race? I am not sure, but this time I was supposed to run the Monument 10K and even up until the day before the race I was not sure if it was going to be a go.

I had the stomach thing and it was rough.

On the morning of the race, I was in bed until 6:30 when I just thought let's do this. So, I went and got my clothes I had organized the night before along with my Garmin, compression socks (thanks Jess), and shoes.

I got to the start with no problem and I was so surprised that there was no traffic. I walked maybe a mile to the start to warm up and then tried to find a bathroom. However, there was a huge line and I had to get in line to my wave.

I got in with the "J" corral and then found a spot about three rows back since I didn't know how my stomach would feel. The start was well organized and there were so many waves of people, but it didn't feel like it was crowded until we started running. Then people were running in front of you and around you and it was hard to keep an even pace with so many runners.

Some people jetted out of the start even though they were seeded at the pace I was running. I tried to follow someone for the first mile until she started running 9:01s and then passed her.

My goal was to run under 9s for as long as I could with my stomach. And the first mile I ran 8:53 and felt like I was holding myself back. As I got to mile 2, 3 I started to feel the heat and slight incline. It was only 56, but it felt somewhat hotter. As I got to mile 3 I felt like ripping the socks off it was so hot. But, it was nice to have them because we were running on cobblestones. I also got gatoraide three times since I had nursed Ryder that morning before leaving.

We ran past monuments, tons of cheering people and a million people cooking out. It was a great race. My only thing was that sometimes you had random people running into the runners or people just stopping right in front of you to drink water.

I finished with 57:10 (I think?) And was pretty happy since I had been sick. However, I would really have loved to finish in 55. My next goal is to run under 8:45!

Loved this race. :)

And Young House Love blogger John also ran the race and wrote a great article here.