Flag Run 10 Miler - August 20, 2005
What a muddy mess! What a glorious, muddy mess! The previous night's storms made the Indian Creek Bike Trail a mudfest in various places. To me, it made it that much more of a blast! While my "footing" (being barefoot of course) was a little more precarious than the rest of the field who were shod, it was still fun and challenging to stay upright on the slick parts. I only took one spill on a wooden bridge that crosses the creek at about mile 5, but I was right back up, laughing about it. Someone asked, "Are you okay?" I said it reminded me of the soft landing on a slip 'n' slide when I was a kid!
Before (R) and After (L)
We were all a muddy mess when it was done. I kept teasing people that were ahead of me that they needed mud flaps for their shoes because their calves and thighs were covered with mud.
This was actually my first 10 mile race. Knowing that this course is not fast, I decided to just run and enjoy it. I talked with several people along the way about barefoot running, including DaveS from the RW Marathon Forum who is training for the Twin Cities Marathon. With all the twists and turns of the course, and the mud where we had to slow WAY down, I was satisfied with my time of 1:20:37 (8:04 pace), which gave me an 8th place AG finish. Knowing that I will be running the Heart of America Marathon in a couple of weeks, I just tried to finish strong without overdoing it. As my first 10 mile race, I can set my base PR on this year's time and then try to improve if the weather is more sporting next year.
Factoids:
Time: 1:20:37
Pace: 8:04
AG Place: 8th
O'All Place: 60th