Butterfly Boogie 10k (Read 535 times)

So I signed up for this just to cross 10k off my list and to get a race done in June (trying to do at least one per month this year). $20 bucks for the race and a dri-fit shirt at packet pick up was a nice start, made even nicer that I got a $20 gift certificate (bought another shirt). I like this race already. My alarm was set to get me to the race plenty early, but it turned out I didn't need the alarm. I was awakened by loud and booming thunder and pretty heavy rain. Nice, I thought. So I got up and checked the weather on TV. It looked like it was going to move through so I went ahead and finished getting ready and headed out. What's normally a 35-40 minute drive took an hour (heavy, heavy rain) and I saw at least 3 accidents and several more people that had "merely" run off the road. I'm starting to think this one's going to be rained out and I'm just going to call myself lucky to get two nice shirts for $20. I get to the starting area at Reverchon Park (Dallas) and quite a few people milling around. The rain had started to ease into just a good rain so I parked and headed over to pick up my chip and see what was going on. Fortunately, there was a very large playground with a sun-shade cover over it that many of the runners were standing under to attempt to keep some of the rain off. It didn't really work, but I think it made us feel better. 7:30 rolls around and the rain had let up a little more and they started the kid's 1 mile fun run. A few of us headed out on the 1 mile course to warm up as the fun run ended. By the 8:00 start, the rain had settled down to a mist - which would normally be welcome for the cooling effect, but by now almost everyone is drenched. The race wound through Turtle Creek / Oak Lawn (very nice area just north of downtown Dallas) and we returned to the start via the Katy Trail (a fairly new urban trail (concrete/asphalt). Slightly uphill for the first half and then slightly downhill on the way back. I think the rain finally stopped for good after the first mile. Great volunteers and aid stations every mile. The finish was a few hundred yards walk through the park to return to the starting area. It had been transformed while we gone and 6 or 7 tents had been erected with a huge amount of food spread out. Watermelon slices, bananas, apples, yogurt, cinnamon rolls, several kinds of muffins, and a couple different kinds of breakfast burritos. To drink were huge tubs of Gatorade, water, and Pickle Juice (had to grab one to try later). I think they were expecting 900 or more, but I think the rain kept a lot of them home - I think there were still several hundred there though. Regarding my time, I finished in 55:32, I had decided that anything less than an hour would be OK, sub-56 would be great and sub-52 would be awesome. While I know I could have done a little better if my clothes weren't rain soaked, I was very happy with my time. All in all, a fun, well organized race that went smoothly despite the thunderstorms and rain. I will definitely do this one again next year. MTA: I brought home a bottle of the Pickle Juice - the kids were very excited to try it. The bottle says it has 15x the electrolytes as Gatorade and 30x the electrolytes as Powerade. So I poured some of it into three cups and we all took a swig. I'm glad I didn't swallow, as it tasted like sea water with a hint of pickle. I won the 5 yard dash to the kitchen sink to spit it out. My daughter took second place, followed by my son. We threw the rest of the bottle away.

Dude, pickle juice sounds nasty I should of done a 5k yesterday... but I was not interested in driving 50 mins to VA or driving 5 mins to support the GLBT community in Baltimore.