Quick Race Update- Capital City Classic 10k and the Wildcat Extra Mile

Capital City Classic 10k

The running theme this spring has been “just go with it.” For a number of reasons I’ve learned to be more flexible and remember no race plan is set in stone. For example, the first Saturday of April has always been the Capital City Classic 10k in Little Rock. I’ve run this race every year since 2012. This year it was scheduled for 5 PM so all week I braced myself for a warm, muggy 10k. We arrived in plenty of time for the race and after I picked up my chip and bib I started to get ready to warm up. It was raining and was supposed to rain the rest of the night but I was ready to get it over with. Then I got a message saying the race was cancelled due to weather. (Big storm system moving in around race time.) So… we packed it up and drove an hour back home.

The race was rescheduled for Easter weekend. No one on our team could make it and in order to field a complete ladies team you need 3 runners. Abi needed a long run and I told Anna she could walk/ run if she wanted so then we had ourselves a team of 3- Searcy Rush (aka- Team Stone).

The rescheduled 10k was also at 5 PM and this time it wasn’t raining. It was in the upper 70’s and hot! The first hot race of the year (when you’re not at all acclimated) is always rough. I’ve learned the hard way (too many times to count) that you CANNOT go out too fast in a situation like this. My plan was to go out around half marathon pace and look to maintain or pick it up depending on how I felt. Let me say right now- SO glad I made that decision! Had I gone out around 10k pace the last few miles would have been miserable!

Race

There were two young girls in front of me during most of the first mile. They went out pretty fast considering heat and had slowed down considerably by the time I caught them. My first mile was 6:23. I thought I might pick it up but miles 2-4 were tough and I really had to work for it. I felt much better during the last two miles so I was able to finish strong. I knew a sub 40 would be close but when I saw the clock at the final turn I knew I could make it if I sprinted. There was also a guy right behind me which added some extra motivation. I really hate getting out kicked in the last minute of a race! I was able to get it under with a few seconds to spare! Official Finish Time: 39:57. ( 1st FOA) Splits: 6:23, 6:25, 6:30, 6:28, 6:20, 6:21, 5:45 avg for last .26.

After I grabbed some water I headed back to find Anna. I caught up with her just after the 4 mile mark. She was walk jogging and we took our time and finished the last 2 miles together. She talked about everything going on in 5th grade and it was my favorite memory about this race.

During the awards ceremony they had a door prize drawing and Anna won a $50 gift card to a local running store. She was so excited! (This happened to her at another 5k a few months ago.) Then we headed to TJ Maxx to do a little shopping and just had a fun girls night together. Thankful for the race experience but the best part was having an evening with the girls.

Wildcat Extra Mile

Once again crazy storms changed our scheduled race time… The Wildcat Extra Mile race was supposed to start on a Friday night with two heats- 6 & 6:30 PM. This was my second year to be the race director and we’d been working hard on getting things ready for months. There was a big storm system moving in so we decided that afternoon to bump everything up one hour. This meant starting at 5 and 5:30 so the course and volunteers needed to be set earlier.

I warmed up as I set out arrows and split markers. My goal was anything sub 5:37 which I hoped was doable considering I’d had a cold earlier in the week and completely skipped my workout and cut down on some other easy runs. Not a whole lot of details for this one. I ran hard but things fell apart at the turn around and the third quarter was rough. I picked it up a little in the last quarter and finished in 5:40- a couple seconds off my goal time.