Giralda Farms 10K

I am totally in awe of my fabulous friend Pearl. We all have dreams, but not many of us are gutsy enough to follow them. Pearl is one of those rare people who is, and does. She has always been an avid traveler, and I admire her for the way she travels, the seasoned road warrior, not afraid to taste the bad with the good, always the observer, never the judge, experiencing other cultures not as a tourist, almost blending in with the locals. She is extremely modest about them, but the photographs from her travels astound me. They are like beautifully written stories, capturing the mood of the moment and the essence of the land so well. She is now on a really long trip, beginning in Asia. Her email from China last night transported me across continents, to where she is now traveling. Bon voyage, my friend!

--------------------------------------------

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I was very disappointed I couldn't run the Ashenfelter 8K on Thursday (even more upset when I found out that they gave out a super technical tee...why do I always miss out on the cool races?) For much of Thanksgiving day and the day before, I was almost doubled up in pain, suffering from a stomach infection. Of course, that didn't mean work stopped, so I was doubled up, bleary-eyed, clawing away at my computer. Don't feel too sorry for me...this meant DH had to do the shopping and cooking, and I must say, he sure can dazzle on the rare occasions his culinary expertise is tested. We had a relaxing evening with friends and the gremlins in the stomach thankfully decided to give me a short break.

Giralda Farms 10K, November 14, 2010

I did have a satisfying race just 2 weeks ago at Giralda Farms. It turned out to be a beautiful, sleeveless singlet and shorts kind of day. No technical tee though, grumble, grumble! There is a 5K as well, which I ran 4 years ago. This was the race that got me hooked on running, so it comes with some nostalgia. The 10K is a USATF Masters' race and quite competitive. Massive hills on the course, so we were either going up or down the whole time. I looked like I was going to drop dead any second, the entire race. In fact, I had to stop and walk for a couple of seconds to stabilize my erratic breathing at Mile 4. I absolutely abhor the middle miles at races. There is no end in sight, and there are all these little kids, not even breathing hard, running tantalizingly close to you, but are of course annoyingly out of reach.

I felt a little glow when I thought of how far I had come from the hilly Indian Trails race I ran 2 1/2 years ago. The gasping, wheezing and palpitations were still there, but at the end of the race, the clock told a different story. I finished in 43:35:07, a 7 minute pace, 116/731 overall, 14/298 women and 2/41 in my age category. I got a coffee mug and a $25 gift card to Starting Line Sports in Madison, which is 45 minutes away from where I live. I don't really mind driving 45 minutes to get free running gear, so I will get myself there one of these days. I would try and steal official pics to post here, but I don't know that you would be too thrilled to see my dying look on every single pic.

The club did great in overall standings. The 40+ & 50+ men came second overall, and the 60+ men came first. Nice job, all!