December 27, 20014
Last race of the year! I signed up for this race very early (notice the #10 on my bib!), as soon as I saw the cute long sleeved hoodie that we got. I've run this race a few times, but it's been a couple of years. My back was really hurting in the days leading up to the race. It was very locked up. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to run! But, I wanted to finish it, not matter what. Even if I walked the whole thing.
Gina and I got to the race site pretty early. The race starts pretty late, 9am. We sat in her car for a while, before heading down to the race start area, just under a mile down the road. Nice little warmup walk. We watched the last kids race, chatted with some people, then finally got lined up at the start.
We head east on the main road through Emmerson Point Park. About half a mile or so down the road, we turn left, onto the first trail loop. It's very crowded on this trail, good for two runners across. Since it's so early in the race, the trail is very congested. One guy almost runs me off the trail! We exit the trail, cross the main road near the start, then run a loop on the trail that is on the other side of the main road. The runners have spread out a bit more here, so I don't have to worry about shoving. Thankfully, this train is pretty smooth, not many roots to watch out for, but I still keep my eyes on the ground in front of me. Around mile 2.5, we exit the trail, turning right onto the main road. We run this all the way down to the end, which hits the Gulf of Mexico, before heading back. I've felt pretty good for the first couple of miles, but by mile 2, my back was getting stiffer. I just pushed through as best as I could. Finally, I see the last turn. The finish line is just ahead. I see that the time is 41 and change. I push as hard as I can to get in under 42 minutes. I finish in 42:05, just missing it.
Overall, happy with my last race of the year. Looking forward to lots of running in 2015!
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