The temperature was in the 40's with light wind and threatening weather conditions.  The scenic course was mostly along the beach.  Before the race, I saw a couple of familiar faces from our club.  There were most of the Pacers from the coast area, Leonard Vergunst, Ed Wheeler, and Bill Gasparrini.  Pacers’ cheerleader Bob Clark was also present.  From “inland MS”, I could distinguish Mr. Phillip Wedgeworth in his debut as a road runner and the fastest kids in South Mississippi, the Stricker family.  I started off trying to stay steady and was just behind Phillip and little Kayla Stricker.  I made it a point to conserve on the first mile as I wasn't used to faster paced running.  Still, the first mile was around 6:40 or so and felt quite good.  Then Phillip and Kayla started speeding up, and I just let them go.  They were too fast for my pace.  I more or less held my place the rest of the way. I was 23:05 at the turn-around point and thought that sub 48:00 was possible.  On the way back, I just didn't have that "extra gear" to catch the 5-6 guys I was following.  Too bad because most of them were in my age bracket.  After mile five, I was just trying to finish the race; I didn’t have the energy to kick it at the end; hence I got to watch the clock tick 47:25.  Still, this was my fastest time in the 10K since the 2006 edition of the Crescent City Classic at New Orleans. 

Leonard was the overall winner in 35:45, and Bill took the Grand Masters title in 41:59.  Ed and Phillip won their respective age groups, and of course… I won….. nothing J.  Afterward, we had Gatorade, bananas, oranges, biscuits, hot cocoa, and the best of all… COFFEE!!!  Finally, I find an event where the organizers think about the real needs of a runner like I.  If you don’t have coffee available before or after your event, it will not be a real race.  Kudos go to the Gulf Coast Running Club organizers and volunteers for a very well organized event and of course….for the great Colombian coffee!
© Pijume Diwesi