30 Things Before I'm 30, Item 23: Run a 10k

It wasn't my best race by any standards, but this race does have one important distinction: odd as it sounds, even though I've covered the equivalent distance in training runs and races, I've never actually done a 10k!

Considering the splendor and spectacle of my last race (the Tinkerbell HM in Disneyland), this race was completely the opposite - a small, local race with just over a hundred people. I don't remember the last time I actually had elbow room during a race :)

It was part paved trail, part gravel trail, and I gotta say, the gravel trail made me feel like sludge. I mean, I wasn't that well-trained/prepared to begin with, but feeling my feet sink in for that middle three miles made me feel REALLY slow and ineffectual. And of course, once I got back to the asphalt, I had a little more spring in my step.

It was a nice, beautiful day (though, it got a little blustery towards the end), and everyone was really nice, except for the goose in the parking lot that would not let me pass. Jerkface. (I mean it literally - a goose honked threateningly at me, not letting me get by on the sidewalk on the way to my car, and I had to cross the street to avoid him.)

So yeah... not my best performance (though, at 1:29:23, I met my goal of beating an hour and a half), but I'm glad I got this distance under my belt :)