Navy Run 10K

A cloudy but brutally humid day was thrust upon me and my dad for the Navy Run 10K. The 10K was held at the NAS Jacksonville base, a big military base. The race was our third consecutive 10K but we were both hoping for a PR after a fast trail run two weeks ago. The course was a giant loop and a chance for me to get a PR as well as the usual age group award. We arrived at the base at about 6:40, showing our base pass to get in. My dad claimed someone at the packet pickup told him to go straight until he saw tents. So we drove down for about four miles passing airplane hangers and construction. The base was packed with workers at this early hour. After figuring out that the race wasn't where we were told we went back to the entrance where the guard told us to take a right and go into the Navy Exchange store. We arrived with plenty of time as I scouted out my competition. The race was off and I started it off with a 6:40 mile, but noticed many kids who could possibly be in my age group (instead of the usual 11-13 age group this race was 11-14). I got into my pace by mile 3 as "hairy plodder" (a.k.a. my dad) passed by me. The half way split was about 23 minutes, the time I wanted. But the humidity escalated in the later miles and I was starting to sweat a lot and feel the pain in my quads. There were about 4 kids in front of me who I was starting to catch. I caught one at mile 4.5 who then starting walking later on. Then towards the end of the race I caught two kids but lost them. I came in at a disapointing 49:13 and 82nd place overall out of 340 runners. My dad came in at 47:04 (and 52nd overall), which was slower than his best. Later we overheard a strong area runner say the this race was two minutes slower than his St. Patty's 10K time. My time was half a minute faster which made me seem like I had a good performance. Awards on the other hand were the usual for me my dad. I received 2nd place while my dad placed 7th. I got a medal and precor towel. We stayed after the awards for door prizes which included duffle bags,sport bags, designer bags, precor towels, caps, and a lot of free shoes. This race started the beginning of summer running but hopefully won't get any worse. My next race is Run to the Sun 8K next weekend which is an important Grand Prix event. So long and keep running!