I was nice and warmed up for this race, but was a little hesitant to push my way to the front. There were some serious runners there. Track and field runners (Clayton state, Dacula, etc, etc), runners that were wearing country flags, running teams, etc.

The race was behind schedule, so at 8:05 we watched the wheelchair racers take off. It looked really tough starting off going uphill in those things.

I just mentally prepared for the next 5 minutes. I knew this was going to hurt like hell, but I really wanted to achieve a sub 40 run. I remembered the old saying "No pain, no gain" and then just felt good about it.

Race started and I felt boxed in. It was ok, though, as 6.2 miles is a long way. I weaved in and around some runners and then spotted the runner peloton forming. I thought to myself, "Ron, get up there and hang." So I did.

The rest of the race was my just trying to hang with them. I'd curse running up the hills, and run hard down them. I caught up to my friend Bob, who is a 55 year old running machine, and we ran together for miles 2-5, feeding off each other. I kept thinking he was getting ready to drop me, but then I glanced at my watch and were running mostly 6 min miles, which is his overall 10K pace.

At mile 5, I started feeling kind of winded, but didn't back off the pace. Lots more hills in this area (or so it seemed), and Bob started falling back. I thought about waiting for him, but then decided this was my race and I wanted a PR.

I gave it my all for the last mile. It was uphill for a good portion, but I wasn't going to back down. A hill at the very end of a 10K is just plain cruel, but I had illusions of catching a runner ahead of me even though he was at least a quarter mile ahead. At this point, I had no idea what place I was in, as the top runners were out of site. They were fast.

At the end, guess who shows up, but Bob. He was going to make me earn my spot, whatever it was. I just didn't have anything left in the tank. He basically told me to HTFU and then I saw it. The finish! I had a burst of energy and pulled ahead of him. He finished 10 seconds or so behind me.

Glancing at the clock as I finished made me proud of today's effort. It sucked really bad for most of the run, but that 1 second made it worth it in every way. :)

Nothing. I ditched my strategy and used my instincts.

Walked an 1/8 of a mile out and then back, drank some water, ate a banana, then went and got my t-shirt.

I talked to a few of the top finishers, including Bob. They were trying to recruit me to run on their teams. I didn't commit, as I just don't have the time to dedicate myself to only running.

The event awards were way behind schedule, so I waited until results were posted and left with some buddies. We had to take a shuttle back to the GICC.


I really need to up my weekly/monthly mileage. A few of the top finishers I talked to afterwards were pretty amazed when I told them I was running 70 miles a month. They were running that weekly! When I told them I was a triathlete, there were like, "OHHHHHH, triathlons...you guys are just a different breed of people.". I took that as a compliment. :)


At the start, the race was very disorganized. There were no water stations at the Start Point, no bathrooms, and not much of anything else. Post race activities were great.