Good running fun...

I'm skipping over Thursday's run (treadmill...boring...stats below) and skipping straight to today, September 1...much more exciting.  Today was the Labor Day 10K at Naval Support Activity Annapolis, which Brie and I have planned to run for the past few weeks.  We added to the pleasure with a third runner - a midshipman - who has a lot of enthusiasm and is breaking into more of the longer distance running.

So how did Caroline join the intrepid duo?  I work with Caroline in the age 3-6 Sunday School class at the Naval Academy Chapel.  She has been forced to listen to my race recaps for the past year and last week she indicated she was interested in trying out the longer distance (greater than 5k) running.  Perfect opportunity...come run the Labor Day 10K on the Navy base with Brie and I.  She was in.

So we get to race morning, and par for the course, not everything has gone by the books during the morning, but we're all there before the start of the race.  So, bonus.  Oh yeah, us and the other 13 runners for the race.  Yep, 16 total.  Guess what?  Our chances of winning something increase exponentially.  Woohoo!

Downside to a small race field?  Everyone goes out uber fast.  When  the start was given, we al went out at about a 7 minute/mile pace...uh, not happening for long folks.  We pulled back to about a 8:30ish pace.  Now, on the way over, Caroline indicated she wanted to try to keep up with us during the race as long as possible.  I told her she could probably run much faster than our 8:30 - 9:15 pace.  She wasn't so sure.  Kudos to her for keeping up the whole time.  And for listening to our weekly dish the dirt session.  She may never join us again after that :)  But we hope she will.

Anyway, the course wound up through the golf course, up Providence just a bit and then turned around so we could head back and catch the trail around Greenbury Point.  When we hit the 4 mile mark it became very clear that the race was going to be short of 10k, but who cares, we were having fun.  Ultimately we finished 7, 8 and 9 overall.  First in age 35-39, first in age 30-34 and first in 20-24.  How about them apples :)  So we did't actually win any real prizes (the MWR races are so small they only give first place overall male and female) but we can pretend we rocked it.  And of course, we also didn't walk away with any random prizes either.  Maybe next time.  It was fun regardless and Brie and I were able to share our love of running with a new person.

Now on to rest up a bit for tomorrow's Charm City Run 20-miler with Lara.  It promises to be cooler and the course is a slight downgrade, so I feel pretty good about it.  Happy trails!!!

Stats (for Thursday)
Miles:  4.01
Time:  35:37 (average pace of 8:53 per mile)
Location:  Fitness Center at Naval Support Activity Annapolis
Feeling:  Hamstrings are still tight, trying to make them last

Stats (for Saturday)
Miles:  4.83
Time:   41:30 (average pace of 8:35 per mile)
Location:  Greenbury Point
Feeling:  tight in the hamstrings, just need to hold them together through Sunday