On 6/14/15 I ran the Oy Vey 10k. Normally this is a 5k race and 1 mile walk, but this was their 10^th anniversary and the 10k distance was added to commemorate that. I try to do this event every year and have run the 5k several times before, so I decided I would enter the 10k. Somehow I have managed to never run a 10k before (they are not that common around here), so I was extremely nervous leading up to race day.

Short version:  56:48 chip time, 24/71 overall, 6/37 women, 2/16 40-49 AG!

Long version:  This was my 4^th year running this race and every year several family members join in for the 1 mile walk. So in addition to me doing the 10k, my husband, 2 sons, my Dad, and father-in-law would be walking the mile, plus Mom and mother-in-law spectating. So I had a nice big cheering section (which actually just made me more nervous). I really had no idea what kind of time to expect and I didn’t want to have a horrible race I front of so many people.

On the way over to the race, I told DH to start looking for me at the 55 minute mark. I let him know that I would love to come in at 55 minutes, but with the heat and humidity already building up, it didn’t seem likely. With no experience at this distance I could only go by my 5k times and 10k distances run on my own. My 5k PR is 25:35, but that was before my back/leg problems. I still don’t feel like I’m back at that speed just yet and my last 5k time was a crappy 26:58. My fastest 10k time running on my own is around 58 minutes. So my main goal was to come in under that. One thing I knew for sure: I did NOT want to take longer than an hour! That would be so disappointing.

After we arrived, I picked up my bib and shirt and saw that there were large printouts of the course maps for both the 5k and 10k. For some reason, this race never shares the course map on-line beforehand. Not a big deal as the 5k is well-marked and I’ve done it before, but it would have been nice to see the 10k course ahead of time. Looking at the map confirmed what I suspected: the 10k would be the same as the 5k with the 10k runners doing the loop through the neighborhood twice. To get the exact 10k distance they had to also add an extra bit where the 10k runners ran down and back up a road before heading back into the neighborhood loop. Once I was done reviewing the map, it was time for a warm up. I turned on my Garmin and the darn thing just shut off again. After several tries, I gave up and handed it to DH to try and figure out while I trotted around. When I came back it still wasn’t working and suddenly they were calling everyone to the start line. I haven’t run a race without my watch in years, but I guess I will be running this one by feel. Of all the times it could have crapped out, why now? Oh, well.

Mile 1: 8:45 pace. I only know this because there was a guy at mile marker 1 calling out times. I’m pretty happy with that and I feel good, so I try to keep up that pace.

Miles 2-3: I still feel good and try to keep the same pace, although I have no idea if I am. Mile 2 seems to take forever as I don’t see a mile 2 marker anywhere. Finally I pass the sign for the 1 mile turnaround. I know that this is about 0.5 miles from the 5k finish, so I’ve obviously passed mile 2 at some point. I watch with envy as the 5k runners turn left into the parking lot and head towards their finish. The rest of us have to stay to the middle and head down the road toward the 3 mile turnaround. My family is here to cheer me on. My Dad yells, “C’mon… pick up the pace!” But the heat is starting to get to me and I just shake my head “No!” DH offers me my handheld water bottle, but I wave it off as there are plenty of water stations. Since my watch died, he has been timing me from the start and yells out 26:20 at I guess about the 2.95 point. So at least I have some idea of my pace for the first half.

Mile 4: I head back into the neighborhood and start my second loop. I feel like my pace is starting to slow down. At every water stop I take water and mostly dump it on myself. At some point in this mile a woman pulls up alongside and says, “You can’t slow down now! You’ve been my inspiration this whole time!” I tell her that I’m waiting for mile 5 to pick it up. I try to stay with her, but I just don’t seem to have the energy and she eventually moves on ahead.

Miles 5-6.2: I keep looking for the mile 5 marker, but it never seems to come. This is the hardest part about not having my watch. I have no idea how much is left to run. At the next water station I wave off the cup and just yell, “Where’s mile 5? Where’s mile 5?!” The woman just smiles and says, “It’s okay…” I guess she thought that I thought I was off course (or maybe just delirious?). I never do see mile 5 so I just keep plodding along. At this point I just want to be done. Finally I recognize the turnoff into the parking lot up ahead. I try to speed up as best I can, but as I get closer I see that they are making the 10k runners go back down that stupid road again! I really thought we only had to do that once and it is a bit demoralizing at this point. But at least I am almost done, so I trudge down the road and back up to the parking lot entrance. They’ve moved the finish line back from where it had been in past years, so I don’t see the clock right away. I feel like I’ve slowed down so much that I could be in danger of the dreaded 1 hour mark, so I try to go as fast as I can. When I finally do see the clock, I am pleasantly surprised to see that I am under 57 minutes! 

Afterward I feel kind of wobbly. Normally after a race I make sure to walk around for a bit. I never sit right down, but today I am hot and exhausted. As soon as I sit down, I fall over and end up on my back. Whoa! I did not mean to do that! I decide to just lie there for a while. Once I am recovered, I finally get a look at the results and I am surprised to see that I’ve finished 2^nd in my age group! And apparently the woman I inspired was the first place AG finisher. So I guess it’s kind of cool that I helped her with her race as well. That actually makes me feel good instead of disappointed that I couldn’t stay with her. She finished with a 55:15, so I must have really faded in the second half.

I am very happy with my time given the weather and lack of a watch. I think with cooler temps I could definitely bring that time down. Besides the heat, the most difficult part of this race was the fact that I didn’t know the distances. I don’t know what happened to the signs for miles 2 and 5, but all other signs were quite large and hard to miss. So overall this turned out to be really a difficult race, but also pretty successful . And afterward I got to host a graduation party for my son who just graduated high school on Thursday! A fun and exhausting day!

Thanks for reading!

Becky

Congrats on your first and AG award!

Very nice.

I am also very happy to know that there is something called the "Oy Vey" 10k.

A 10K with no Garmin!    I'd have DNS'd.  

Great job though!  Pretty impressive since you had to run your first 10K by feel.  That's something that takes a lot of practice.

Thanks all for the kind words!

I got into doing this event strictly based on the name. It cracks me up!

Congrats on a great race!  10ks are tough to figure out even *with* a watch!  You did awesome.   And I love that your whole family was out there walking the mile too.  What's next for you?

I got into doing this event strictly based on the name. It cracks me up!

I thought the thread title had to do with your sentiments about the race. lol

Nice job!

I sat down and keeled over after my first marathon, which was also run in warm weather.

That was the only time I have ever felt like that so I just chalked it up to the temperature.

Congrats Becky!

AG bling on your first try at the distance is a pretty good result. That's always tough when there's no mile marker, way to hold on.