Run wYLd 10k Race Report

This race was just what I needed at just the right time!  I've been hitting things pretty hard since late January training for my marathons and now for my triathlon as well.  Last weekend I did the Garmin Marathon then another 20.75 miles on the trails that night and next weekend I have the Lincoln Marathon, so it's been a fun but grueling few months.  I needed something to do just for fun, not something that is serious training or a long distance even, just something nice and enjoyable.  This race was the perfect opportunity.  My friend and Ultra running mentor, Sherrie, was race directing this little 5k/10k to raise money to help kids pay to go to Young Life camp.  Add in the fact that one of my old friends Robyn is the regional director for Young Life so she'd be there too.  That makes this one a no-brainer.



Jedi Master Sherrie doing the race director thing!

Sherrie had told m about the race so I told her I'd gladly register to run and volunteer.  Kristy & I went out to Garry Gribble's on Friday evening to help with packet pickup and registration with Sherrie, then we had a nice dinner with Sherrie & her son.  Definitely a nice pre-race evening!  Then on race morning I got up at 5:50 am so I could get out to Shawnee Mission park (race start/finish) to help out with set up and race day packet pickup & registration.  It was a great morning!  A little cool, but the clouds were slowly moving out so it was already obvious that by race time the weather would be perfect.  I grabbed a stack of cones and started lining them up to mark where the course goes from the Theater In The Park parking lot to the service road leading to the park.  Once that was knocked out I helped get the registration tables set up and organized and let the ladies that would be working with know what was going on with everything and what needed to be done. We got quite a few last second registrations, which was great!!

Finally it was time to line up and get going.  I figured a nice, relatively easy effort 10k would be perfect for the weekend between 47 miles & 26.2 miles.  I've been feeling physically very good all week, but I've been running out of energy quickly.  I really had no idea what to expect from my body on this one.  The out portion of the out and back course is almost entirely down hill; heading out from Theater In The Park, going around the running path toward the dam, down the dam and around the Mill Creek Streamway paved trail.  Of course, this means the back portion is almost entirely up hill!!  I was feeling pretty good so I decided I'd let it fly a little in the first half, but be sure to conserve enough for the tough second half.  This way I could judge how I was feeling and not burn all my energy out right off the bat.

There were a total of about 100 people combined running the 5k & 10k with the vast majority in the 5k.  It took almost no time for my friend Mark to be long gone!!  I moved around quite a few people to find my comfortable pace in the group and settled in.  I was having a bit of a knot in my calf, but overall I felt very good and energetic.  I wasn't even a mile in yet when Sherrie's son came flying by on his way back leading the 5k field by a WIDE margin.  Impressive for a kid that doesn't run much!  My friend Cassie (from the Trail Nerds Thursday Night BAR Run) had passed me and made a joke that I could pass her back in a couple minutes, but she was flying.  It didn't take her long to put a pretty wide margin between us, but I was really feeling my race at this point so I didn't mind at all.

My calf had mostly settled down after the first couple miles so I just continued to settle in and enjoy the gorgeous day and the beautiful trail through the back side of the park.  I was moving pretty fast compared to what I would do in a training run, but certainly not really pushing it since I knew I had the hill climb from the bottom of the dam to the finish (about the last 1.75 miles) and I'd need to save some energy for that.  As I was coming close to the turn around I saw Mark on his way back and let him know that I hadn't seen anyone else so he was in the lead of the 10k overall.  He had a pretty decent lead.  I saw Cassie after she had turned and not long after that I hit the turn myself.  As I was on my way back I saw Coleen and the two folks she was running with, saw Rich, Chris & Paco all running together, got a high five from fellow Trail Hawk Gary Henry and saw Indika.  Coleen & her crew all looked great and smiled and said hello as I passed; Rich & Chris both told me I looked good and I told them the same; when I saw Indika she grumbled about the pavement!  She's definitely not a road racer!  I told her to just keep telling herself "I love roads", but she didn't seem to find it as funny as I did!  She looked good though, especially considering she'd finished her first 40 miler last weekend!  This is what I love about out and back courses, it's fun to see fellow runners.

As we got closer and closer to the hill climb I could see that I was drawing closer and closer to Cassie.  As we both headed up the dam hill we both slowed, but I was still catching her a little.  At the top of the dam was the 5k turn around aid station and Cassie was just leaving it as I got to it.  I yelled at her that she better hurry up because I was right on her heals!  She stopped and said back "I'll just let you push me up the hills the rest of the way!"  We ran together for a little bit, but my strategy of conserving energy in the first half was working well so I started pulling away the further into the hills we got.  As I was heading up the final access road toward the parking lot with the finish I went past Sue and said hello to her and knowing I was close to the end I kicked up the pace a bit.  I came through the finish with Sherrie there cheering and met up with Mark who had won the 10k and Robyn who had run the 5k with a friend.  We chatted and watched as our fellow runners came in.  Cassie wasn't too far behind me.  Sherrie came over to let me know I had finished second in my age group!!  There were only 4 people in our age group, but Mark had won overall so one other person from our group finished ahead of me and Chris was in third behind me.



Me & Cassie both finished 2nd in our age groups!



Sherrie handed out the race awards and we stood around chatting for a while longer.  My calf was definitely tight but not painful.  We started packing up all the stuff and cleaning up so we could head out.  I had planned to go for a long bike ride after the race, but Sherrie & her family, Robyn & her family, Rich & Sue and Mark were all heading over to Le Peep for breakfast so I scrapped the ride and went with them instead.  It was great catching up with Robyn!!  The race and the entire morning were a blast, the weather was perfect and this fun, challenging event was exactly what I needed mentally and physically this weekend!!  THANKS, SHERRIE!!! Great job!!