Itching for another race after the Pittsburgh Half Marathon I found this one, and hey it raises money for band kids, so why not? Only a 40-minute drive, the weather was perfect–cool, overcast–set up to be a good morning. It was a smallish race, as expected for a fundraiser, but well organized and a nice turnout–there are also 5k and 2k kids fun run options. Only 60 participants in the 10k, but I suspect there were a few more in the 5k, haha.
Geography is not my strong point. I rely pretty heavily on my GPS to get me from A to B and without seeing the lake I can’t really tell you where north is. I have many talents, but this is not one of my strong suits. As such, I seldom bother looking at course maps and just pray courses are well-marked. The maps will mean very little to me anyway, so I just don’t bother.
Someone described the 5k course as ‘gently rolling hills’. The 10k course was not ‘gently rolling hills’. It was straight up HILLS. Which I was, admittedly not expecting, due to my aforementioned directional impairment–I had no idea what that area was like. So I quickly kissed delusions of a new PR goodbye and just went with it. I had a good time, it was a nice little race, and all things considered my time was respectable. What made it for me though, was at the end, a lady I’d been leap-frogging with who crossed the line not too long after me slapped five and thanked me saying I helped push her though the end of the race. That meant a lot, especially with how I struggled during the race. It was a good reminder to keep pushing–you don’t know who’s watching, who’s inspired by you, who you are helping just by doing what you do.
Happy Monday, friends.