Meridian Barn Sour 10k

Awhile back I signed up to be on Team Beef through the Idaho Beef Council so I would be more inclined to keep myself in good running shape.  The deal is this: I wear the Team Beef shirt for sponsored races, take a photo of myself with my race bib and the Team Beef shirt on, send it to IBC, and I get my race fee reimbursed.  That's pretty much awesome.  I couldn't do the May run due to being in Vegas and I knew I wouldn't be able to do the July run due to my sister's wedding, so I signed up for the June 10k thinking it would be a nice little fun run to do. 

Once again, none of my friends were running this race so I showed up all by my lonesome and wandered around stretching by myself.  During the 1-mile kid/family run I got the guts to chat it up with a woman wearing a Chi Running shirt and hat.  I casually said to her, "you know that by wearing that shirt I'm going to be watching your form throughout the race, right?"  Turns out Karen is a Chi Running instructor.  I told her I'd read 1/2 the book and am interested in learning more in a clinic and we ended up running the first 1/2 of the race together.  She promised to get me her business card at the finish line so that I might get more info about her Chi Running clinics.  Perhaps more will come of this in the future.

Karen and I ran right behind another woman, Jacci, for the first 3 miles.  When Karen dropped off to get some water, I caught up to Jacci and ended up running the last 3.2 miles with her.  She kept a steady pace and every now and then we talked about things like how hot it felt, what our husbands do for a living, or how Karen is a Chi Running instructor.  Jacci was a great person to run with and we kept great time.

I carried my iPhone and was using my cyclometer app to keep track of my current and average pace.  The mileage wasn't quite consistent with what the mile markers said (the iPhone always being a bit behind), but I figured the pace had to be fairly accurate.  Jacci and I rounded the corner to the finish line and I busted out as fast as I could, partially to see how much I really had left in me and partially to try to beat Jacci!  Turns out we were two of the last 3 participants in the race to cross the finish line.  By the time I got my iPhone out and turned off the tracking, it said my time was 1:03:06 and that my average pace was 10:30.  It also said I only ran 6 miles.  A true 10k is 6.2 miles.  When I got home and was able to check the actual posted time, it said I finished in 1:02:59 and according to this site my average pace was actually 10:08/mile for the full 10k.  Woah!

I can't believe I ran at 10:08 pace (personal best, by the way) for 6+ miles and came in third from last.  Those folks running yesterday were wicked fast!  Jacci, Karen, and I were the only people to finish in over an hour.  Jacci is 48 years old, Karen is 63 years old, and measly me is 32 years old.  Karen took first for her age group....because she was the only woman entered in her age group!  Now there's a reason to run when you're 63, right?! 

Overall, this was a fun race.  It's nice to know I have something to aspire to for next year's Barn Sour - that I will finish higher than 37th place :)