The 31st running of Mobile's Azalea Trail Run 10K took place on Saturday March 29, 2008, and the azaleas certainly cooperated by being in full bloom. The weather was very nice and the overall, masters and grandmaster competition was world class. The total number of finishers was 3036.

 

I'm sure that Raul will provide us a detailed report of all Pacers who participated in this event. My report is more personal and is more related to goal setting.

 

Yesterday, on the way home, Hollie and I were discussing how our running/walking and general fitness goals have changed over the years. I made the statement that when I was racing 10Ks in the 42-44 range, I never thought I would feel so good about racing one in a sub 57 time. Hollie then made the statement that when he was running in the 36-38 range, he never thought he'd be so proud of placing in a racewalk with a time of well over an hour. Everything is so relative.

 

When I lived in Texas, I had always heard a great deal of positives about the Azalea Trail Run, but I never got around to running it until 1999 when we moved to Hattiesburg.  I have since run the race a total of 6 times. In 1999, at age 54, my time was 49:46. This year, at age 63, my time was 56:55 (chip) or 57:26 (gun). The awards were based on gun time and I was able to place 3rd in the 60-64 AG. There were 43 in the AG and I placed 1063 out of 3036.

 

This was one of the best race experiences that I have had in some time. My time was not that great, but physically and mentally I felt really good during and after the race. My recent racing experiences have not provided that feeling. Based on my recent training, I thought that a time of sub 58 was realistic. I also had a goal of running negative splits. I achieved both goals. In fact, the second 5K was faster than my 5K race time of two weeks ago where I crashed at the 2.5 mile point of the race. Even though I started out fairly close to the start, it took me 31 seconds to cross the chip mat. Awards were based on gun time, but the lag of time made no difference in my placement in the awards. My first mile was 9:30 and the last mile was 8:51. The first 5K was 28:48 and the second was 28:07.

 

In general, I'm feeling good about my training. I am making progress in increasing my mileage and getting faster. I have had a goal of running the June 8 Deadwood Half Marathon and that is how I am training. There is a possibility that, due to other travel plans, I will not be able to do that race. At this point, I plan to keep training and in a few weeks I'll know if I will be making the trip.

 

My next race will be a Run for the Roses on April 12. My goal for that one is to run sub 27. Based on yesterday's race, I think that is possible.
© Becky Ryder