The 10-miler

On Saturday, I ran the Arny Johnson 10-mile race to benefit the Habitat for Humanity in Rockford, Ill. I grew up in Rockford, so I thought it would be a great chance to slip in a run and a family visit for the holiday. The course left from Harlem High School and followed a paved bike trail to Rock Cut State Park. We ran around Pierce Lake on blacktop and then back to the school.

As it turned out Saturday was disgusting. It was humid when we started the run... and then between miles 4 and 7 (just in time for the crazy hills) it downpoured.

I felt really bad for this woman in front of me that was dressed entirely in cotton pants and shirt. By the time we were at mile 8, her pants were 6 inches longer and UNDER her shoes.

It rained so hard that water got into my iPod holder and got the clickwheel wet. One drop was so heavy that it turned the volume up to full, but then the clickwheel was unresponsive to my wet hands trying to turn it down. So I ripped my earphones out so I wouldn't go deaf, which stopped the workout recording. So I'll have to run 10-miles again to see that big bar on my Nike Running Graph spike up. Sigh.

My mom found this photo through a friend of a friend on Facebook who was also running the race. I'm the girl in the center with the coat tied around her waist. From this angle, I look almost fit. Nice. We'll have to see if we can keep the blur theme going. It's like a fitness form of beer goggles. :-)

I finished the race in 1 hour 50 minutes and 53 seconds. I was anticipating a 12-minute mile pace, but I managed a 11:05-minute mile pace, even with the hills (which I'm so not used to) and the rain. At mile 8, a cold wind kicked up, but since I'm used to running in Savoy, I deal with wind. That doesn't mean I don't curse at it while I'm out there... it just means, I've learned how to handle that kind of resistance.