Charlotte 10-Miler

February 2013:  Charlotte 10-Miler
Since "recovering" from my December 2012 Marathon, I have slowly been adding races into my schedule, building up to my charity 1/2 marathon in March.

This month is the Charlotte 10-Miler. 
First, I love ten miles.  It is a great running distance - not too long, not too short.
Second, Charlotte is HiLlY. 

This race was special though, because for the past few months, I have been a part of a growing group called Lake Norman Moms Run This Town (LKN MRTT).  We are on Facebook, and it is a closed group for runner moms who live in this area. 

Being the anti-social, introverted person that I am - I generally just "socialize" with the group on Facebook.  However, hating to drive even more than I hate socializing, I sucked it up and decided to carpool with some of the women down to the race. 

We met early in the morning at a Dunkin Donuts in Huntersville.  Did I mention it was freezing cold?  Oh, and it was raining, too.

I got into an huge Suburban with 5 other women that I didn't really know.  I was more than happy to sit quietly in the wayyyyy back. . .and so began our drive down to Charlotte.
These women were awesome!  I think it was only about 3 minutes into the trip, and I so wanted to be best friends with all these women.  We are all Moms.  We are all Runners.  Some of us are fast, some are slow; some are new to running, some have been doing it for years; some work full-time jobs, some part-time, and some are full-time mommies.  We were all enjoying our "break" of heading off to a race.

Once we got to the start line at the race, the rain stopped.  Initially, I figured I'd run by myself - it's what I usually do, plus, I like to listen to my music.  There were two LKN MRTT running together, just ahead of me, and I figured I would use them for pacing.  They were faster than me. . .At mile 1, one of the ladies mentioned we were doing a 9:30 pace.  That is one minute faster than my usual long distance pace.  Still, I held on to sticking with them.  I figured if they could put up with my Darth Vader breathing and gasping behind them, we were all good.

At about the 5 mile mark, one of the ladies pulled ahead, and I ended up between the two.  Still, it helped me with keeping pace.

This run was not for wimps.  Charlotte is known to be hilly, but luckily we hadn't encountered many - but we were on the greenway, after a week of rain, and there were huge puddles of standing water on the bridges, which, I gave up trying to go around, and just went through.  So, with soaking socks and shoes, I plodded on.

At mile 8.5 there was an huge hill.  It went straight up.  When you got to the top, to turn right, guess what?  It went up even more.  Who, in their right mind, puts an huge hill at the end of a race?  It was daunting.  I walked it.  Three years later, at the top, I was able to pick up running again.  I'd lost sight of my "pacer" friend. So, I just went with my music and tried to find that finish line.

When I crossed the finish line, it was with a PR, which felt great!  I found my LKN MRTT group.  There are some speed demons amongst us, who were already done (and even placed!). 

Overall, it was a great run, and I learned a lot about myself as a runner, and a person.
I really enjoyed getting to know new people.  I learned that I can push myself out of my comfort zone, and it's okay.

And. . .
I. Really. Hate. Hills.

Race Notes:
I wore compression pants from CWX - they are warmer, and I love the support they offer.  I wore my old Kinvara 3s because of the rain, and they actually were the best choice.