Buffy Weaver's IBM 10k Race Report

RACE DAY: October 18, 2009
Race Information
Race Results

After entirely too few hours of sleep, I woke up early on Sunday morning (5am-ish), checked the temperature (because who really knows what it will be like outside these days), threw on my race clothes (neatly laid out the night before), got my hair into some nice pigtails, poured myself some coffee, grabbed a waffle with peanut butter, and hit the road. I met up with two buddies at a friend’s house close to the race start and we headed down toward the start line at IBM. Of course, we missed the road closure by minutes so we had to park a bit further away and walk, but no big deal. We’re all in good shape – we can manage a bit of extra walking!

I was a little concerned about the temperature and my running clothes. I am one of those people who tends to feel colder than most. I was sporting my snazzy Red Licorice running shorts and singlet with a long sleeve black shirt underneath. I was a bit chilly in the shorts instead of running pants, but once the actual race started it was perfect. The weather was just right for shorts (but I’m still happy I wore a long sleeve shirt, too).

Now I ran this race last year, but I totally forgot that they put all the hills at the end of the course! It is pretty flat for the first half and THEN they throw those hills in there. Nothing too killer though – and I actually tend to do well on hills. I’m not the fastest gal out there, but I can tackle hills well and that can help me out with overall race rank. There was a great spot in the middle of the race course that the participants ran by twice, and there was a DJ playing music there. The second time I passed the spot there was some dance-club type music going. That was okay. The first time I passed by, though, was AWESOME! The DJ was playing the theme music from Superman – what a great pick-me-up! Who doesn’t want to run to superhero music?! The best part of the race was right before the finish line, though. I was nearing the finish line and had it in my sights, but was feeling a bit tired. Then I heard a whole crowd of people cheering me on! I looked over and saw a crew of Red Licorice people yelling and cheering for me – it was just what I needed and gave me a nice little kick that got me past that finish line a bit faster than I probably would have gotten there. I love a good race, but I really love a good race with a great cheering section! (Thanks, you guys!)

My race goal was to finish in less than 50 minutes. I ran the race with my Garmin 305, and I set it for the virtual racer setting. That was nice because I could just glance at it during the race and see if the little stick figure that represented me was ahead of my virtual, stick figure opponent who was set to run the 10K in 50 minutes. I managed to finish in 48 minutes and 24 seconds (chip time), so I’m quite pleased (take that, virtual, stick figure opponent!).

Post-race I chatted with the Red Licorice group a bit and then milled around until I found one of my friends that I went to the race with. We saw our other running pal coming in and cheered her to the finish line. I was starving at this point, but the lasagna that they were serving post-race just wasn’t doing it for me. I think it is really cool that they served “real food” instead of just cookies and crackers after the race, but it just didn’t sound good to me at that moment. I grabbed a mini Clif Bar to tide me over (Blueberry Crisp – delicious) and we headed out.

Back at my friend’s house, I hopped in my car and headed home. I walked in the house, kissed my husband, and demanded that we go for breakfast tacos. Two tacos and some chips and queso later I was done for and took a well-deserved, big, fat nap.