The Mesa Browns: The 10.8469k

(Me & Shari before the race)

We've known each other since kindergarten. We were in almost every class together throughout elementary school, went to the same junior high and high school. We grew up about a mile apart. Our big brothers were best friends. Then one day 18+ years ago, when her brother, Jeff, was still on his mission and my brother, Michael, was recently returned, Michael told me he was going on a date with her. His best friend's little sister. It didn't take long before I knew she was going to be my SIL. Michael was pretty much smitten from the get-go. And for good reason.

Today, Shari and I had a super fun morning together. We met out at Schnepf Farms and both ran the 10k together. Or rather the 10.8469k. I'll get to that in a minute. We both went solo. Coincidentally, both our husbands were supposed to be on scout overnights last weekend, but both of the outings were cancelled due to last week's crazy storms and were rescheduled for this weekend. So that meant no hubbies in town on race day. Which also meant no hubbies to accompany the kiddos at the race while we ran, which meant both our oldest girls stayed home to watch our peeps.

So while our kids were still sleeping in their warm beds, and while our husbands were out camping somewhere in the mountains in not so warm beds, Shari and I left our houses in the dark and headed south. Way south. I hadn't been out to Schnepf in years and forgot how crazy far away it is from our house in north Mesa.

It was super chilly this morning out in the grass fields and farm country. We didn't shed our jackets until minutes before the race. I kept my gloves on. After we hit the jons for the last time, we wished each other good luck, turned on our ipods, and took off running. We knew we weren't going to run together, so we made a plan to meet after the race.

This was Shari's first race ever and she did so great. She ran strong and hard and felt terrific. Last fall, she set a goal in her "I can do hard things" personal campaign to run a 10k. Keeping in mind she's never been a runner before, this was a perfect goal for her. 8 weeks of training. Doing something she hates. Something that's hard.

Sometimes we all need a little refining and a little push to help us become more than we presently are.

And today was a perfect day to run for a great cause. The race is named after a little girl named London who lost her battle to cancer. London's father is on the SWAT team with Michael, so Mike & Shari have gotten to know them over the years. London's mom talked today before the race, thanking everyone for their support in this great battle against cancer. Proceeds from this race went to benefit children's charities.

I thought the farm terrain was a little hard to run on, or maybe just different than what I'm used to running on. Most of the course was narrow dirt tractor roads through crop fields that were more like mud roads due to the recent rain, with large tractor tire treads creating dips and bumps. As in most races, the first mile was filled with lots of jockeying for position, weaving in and out of the pack trying to find your space on the packed course. I thought today was particularly challenging doing that weaving while also trying to avoid the potholes and find the best footing amid the mud. Some places had sand spread on the ground to help with the mud, which also makes for interesting running. Nevertheless, I really liked being in the "country" and enjoying the clean crisp air. Once we started running, the weather seemed absolutely perfect. The temp was somewhere in the low 50's. I love running in the cold!

Unfortunately, the courses were screwed up due to some last minute re-routing to avoid muddy paths, and a whole bunch of 10k runners were re-routed on the wrong path (part of the half marathon course I guess). The website for London's Run was updated this afternoon with a big apology about the confusion on the course. From the race results, it's clear to see that all the runners after number 26 got sent on the wrong path. There's almost a 5 minute gap between runner 26 and 27.

Right at about 4 miles into the race (I was so glad to have my new Garmin 310XT watch on with full GPS distance tracking - thanks for the great Christmas gift, Ryan), we came to a fork with no signage. Two volunteer race workers were posted at the fork, and were waving the runners on. They said go left for the half marathon, right for the 10k. So our pack turned right and kept running. I was immediately frustrated, though, because there was no water station in sight. The only water station was at the 2 mile mark. Had we turned left (which turned out to be the way we were supposed to go I guess) we would have had our water station.

We just kept running and running with no water. I am not so good without water. Call me H2O girl. I need it. When my Garmin beeped at me at 6 miles, I looked at my watch and knew that there was no way there was only .2 miles to go. The finish line wasn't even in sight. Sure enough, at 6.25 miles (after the race should have been over), I still couldn't see the finish line. My time was 52 minutes and change by then, and now I was a little disappointed. As with every race, you have great visions of running hard the last .2 and sprinting to the finish, but I had no idea where the finish was. Thankfully, the misrouting only took us an extra .54 miles.

It was funny listening to all the chatter after we crossed the finish line. All these runners were perplexed looking at their watches and their GPS mileage. A bunch of us compared the mileage on our Garmins and they all said 6.74 miles. So at least I wasn't crazy. We just got a bonus .8469 kilometers on this one! My chip time for the whole 10.8469k was 57:02, which translates to a 52:27 10k.

So I am pretty stoked. That's a personal best for me - a little over a minute faster than my best 10k to date! I placed 96 out of 615 runners. Cool beans. It was a beautiful Arizona winter day in Queen Creek and I was stoked to be a part of it. And I was extra happy to share this great day with Shari, who accomplished something great today.

Even though every race is exciting (at least it is to me), there's something pretty amazing about the first time you cross a finish line. There will never be another first! Way to go, Shari!

As Shari and I talked after the race, she told me she teared up at the start and again at the finish. I smiled because I knew exactly what she was feeling. I did the same thing last fall when I ran my first half marathon. It was so emotional for me - not the running itself, but the sense of accomplishment after finishing something hard that you've really worked for. It's a great feeling.