Before I get to the race recap, here’s a brief summary of the last few days:
Poop duty.
*Note: I have extremely awkward hair right now. I’m growing it out again, since I can’t keep the same hair style for more than 2 months. I can’t wait to have a cute bob – a la Katie Holmes 3 years ago!
Whirly Ball is amazingly fun!
On to the race details!
Big Peach definitely has some perks to working there. Besides the amazing owners, management, and co-workers, we sometimes get free entries into local races. The Charles Harris 10k was one of them.
Since I’m on a limited budget, the races I can get into for free is pretty much the deciding factor of which races I’m doing. Plus, Lee and Lindsay were running it also, so it was a win-win!
This race is popular in Atlanta, since it’s a point-to-point, net-downhill 10k.
Because the start is 6 miles away from the finish, we had to park at the finish and get shuttled to the start of the race. I met up with Lee, and we rode the cheese wagon together. We parted ways at the start, so I could do a little warm-up and take my place near the front of the pack. I’m learning to start farther up than I’m used to, since when I don’t, I end up weaving in and out of people the first half mile which gets really exhausting.
The race started just after 7:45, and the first several miles were downhill. I maintained a hard, but comfortable, pace. My first mile was 6:55, and I was pretty consistent throughout the race. As you can tell from the topographic profile, there was a long hill around mile 3-4. After pounding my quads on essentially a 3-mile downhill, the uphill was definitely more painful than usual. The remainder of the course was mostly downhill as well, except for the last mile, which was rolling uphills. Mean.
Despite the hills, I kicked it in, also trying to ham-it-up for the race photographer. But he missed my jump in the air, so I just look weird.
I couldn’t believe my watch when I finished!
My official time was 44:42 (7:13 min/mile pace) and almost 2 minutes off my P.R.!
Needless to say I was a happy camper.
*The hat helps disguise awkward bouncy running hair.
Lindsay did great as usual, and Lee even set a P.R.!!!!
Overall, the race had a great course. It wasn’t very scenic, but the elevation change made up for it. It was well organized, and I highly recommend it if any Atlanta folks are looking for a fast time to qualify for a Peachtree Road Race seeding.
Which kind of race do you prefer: point-to-point, out-and-back, or loop?
I love point to point races, but I hate how they are logistically harder!
Great job on the PR!!
Congrats again! It was great to see you and to chat after the race too.
I don’t really have much of an opinion on point to point vs out and back vs loops. I guess I like out and back the least.
Whoa – killer time! Congrats!!
Goodness girl – sub 45!! Awesome race, 10K is your distance recently. I need to borrow some of your speed for this weekend, please.
That is amazing!! Way to go!! It would amaze me if I could finish a 10k in an hour. I’m excited to see your cute bob!! I feel like you can pull off any hair. You’ve got the face for it
I hate out-and-backs — they’re usually so dull!
I’m a fan of loops… mostly because as someone said, point-to-points are just more logistically challenging and therefore require more thinking than I’d like to do. Congrats on the PR!
I think you should re-name your blog to KristyPRs.com
WAY TO GO!! You are on fire, lady!!! That picture cracks me up… how dare that photographer miss the shot!! LOL
And I think your hair looks GREAT! Really! I love the headband, so flirty and fun!
Wow – awesome race! Thanks for the recap. That totally stinks about the photographer, but at least you look awake and really movin’ in that pic.