Space Alliance 10-Miler

I did it! I finished my first official race of the season with an official time of 2 hours and 35 minutes and 22 seconds - a 15.31 minute mile.

Beverly, Jacque and I met at 5:00am this morning and drove together to the U of H Campus in Clear Lake. We signed in at the Fort Bend Fit tent and waited for the race to start. At around 6:30am it started raining heavily, but after about 10 minutes, the skies cleared. I'm not sure how many people participated, but there were at least 700. Everyone received a sensor so they could chart their personal "chip" time. Depending on where you were in the crowd there could be a difference as big as 60 seconds between your chip time and your official time (My chip time pace was 15.29).

I started out with Kathy, Toni and Beth. Kathy and Toni are very fast walkers, so by the time we crossed the start line, they were way ahead of us. I brought my CD player with me just in case I wound up walking by myself, but as it turned out Beth and I walked together the whole time. She is a fast walker, so we were able to walk the whole time. There were just a few times when we ran for about 30 seconds to make sure we maintained our pace, including the last 100 yards or so to the finish line. One of the nice things about this race was that there were markers at each mile, so you knew how far you had gone and how much more you had to go.

Even though I went to bed early I only got about 3 hours of sleep. And it was very hot on the course, so by the time I finished I was exhausted. But it was exhilarating knowing I had achieved my goal of finishing within the official course time and beating the 2 hour and 38 minute target I had set for myself.

Me, Beverly & Jacque after finishing the 10 miler