Saturday, September 27, 2008

Balloon Fest 10K Race

Since she was recovering from a severe cold, my friend Amanda called me yesterday and asked me if I wanted to take her place in today’s Balloon Fest 10K race. Cameron encouraged me to run so I agreed. I’ve been following a 10K training schedule so I was somewhat prepared for the race.

Last night Cameron and I had a great pasta dish so I could fill up with carbohydrates before the race. He also advised me to drink a lot of water throughout the day to hydrate myself. I have to take all the advice from him since he has more experience in running than me.

This was my first 10K (6.2 miles) race and it was fun. Well, the last mile and a half were pretty tough and I wanted it to be over, but overall it was fun! I wanted to beat 55 minutes or a 9 minute mile pace; Cameron was pretty confident that I was going to be able to beat it since it is common to always run faster during a race.

The race started at 8:00 AM; it was a chilly morning but it was perfect for running.

I took Cameron’s GPS to keep track of my time and my pace. The official results have not been posted yet. The GPS time was 52:45 with an average of 8:22/mi and clock time was 53:41 (per the picture below) and I’m sure the chip time will be somewhere in between both times.

I was excited to have beaten my expectations; I was even third in my age group! Cameron prayed in the morning and thanked the Lord for our physical ability to run and exercise!

Five minutes before the race:


Notice the hot air balloons in the back:

The fast runners separating themselves from the rest of us; the only girl in the picture was the overall female winner:

A few seconds after the race had started (I was trying to pose for the camera):


Fifty-two minutes later:





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