10.10.10 10K starting at 10:10am

At the very last minute I signed up for a 10K to celebrate the magical date of 10.10.10. It was not a race so much as an excuse for a bunch of runners to get together and terrorize the road.

The plan was brilliant.

The 10 mile folks already started 10 minutes before us -- see a pattern emerging? It was the best start ever. It was not a race, so we were not technically being timed, but they did have some clocks up along side the road so we could compare ourselves as we came in.

We all hung out until one guy yelled out at 10:10am, "Okay, go!"

The crowd collectively chuckled. How much more informal can you get?

Also brilliant.

It started out nice and easy. Although I was feeling a bit sluggish, I was surprised to see my pace hanging between 8:50 and 9:10/mi. Honestly, I felt like I was going much slower.

Around mile 2 we were out on a trail that was covered with lovely, colorful fall leaves. Unfortunately, those gorgeous leaves, also covered up a pothole that almost made me roll my ankle. I would like to thank all those strength training workouts for keeping my balance and just shaking it off. No harm done.

My pace stayed constant throughout, and we turned around and the halfway mark and followed the trail back.

I started to fall so easily into my pace that I started to have a highway hypnosis, a running hypnosis if you will. So I just followed the shirts ahead of me and started to let my mind just wander a bit.

All of a sudden I heard someone yelling behind me, "Come back!" and hand gestures pointing in a different direction. It appears the folks I was following were going in the wrong direction and I became their little lemming. The shirts ahead of me did not hear the ladies yelling, but the certainly got my attention. I sprinted back to the trail and reminded myself to pay more attention and stay on the right path.

About 100m later I stumbled on the same part of the trail I did on the way out. I guess it takes me a bit to learn from my own lessons.

Just as I was about to make the last turn to the finish line, a car pulled into the street. Me and two other runners pulled over to wait for him to pass when he waved us across. Just as we started to cross he started going forward again.

Umm ... okay? The wave is universal signal that you are giving away your right-of-way to the pedestrian. Generally that means that you do not lure them into the road and then charge.

So I gave my mom the camera, and I think she fell in love with it. When I came home, I dumped about thirty photos onto my hard drive, noting she only saw me for a total of two minutes during the race. My favorite is the "aerodynamic ponytail". Look at the flow of that thing!

It's my secret to speediness.

El fin. Finished the 10k in 56:08, but had to add a little extra on since of my slight detour, my total run was 6.37 miles with a time of 57:41. Not too shabby.

To celebrate 10.10.10 10K starting at 10:10am, my favorite smoothie of all time: Tropical Blast!

In a blender or smoothie maker, mix:

• 1/2 can of mandarin oranges
• 1/2 cup of vanilla almond milk
• 1 cup frozen mango slices
• 1 cup mixed frozen fruit (banana, strawberry, peaches)
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 tablespoons of vanilla whey protein

So in review; I almost rolled my ankle twice, acted like a lemming and went the wrong direction, and almost got hit by a car. But I did digest a yummy-delicious smoothie. I call the day a success.