Pumkinfest 10k

They say that you should never try things new on race day. Well, I tried 2 things new this year for Pumpkinfest 10k. I had my new arm warmers and my SPIbelt. The arm warmers worked great, the SPIbelt, not so much. I'll tell ya why later. I woke up this morning at my normal work time. I love going to this race because I can actually sleep in and leave only 30 minutes before start time. I do pay for parking as I have no idea where to park in Sycamore. Last night I laid out what I was going to wear. Last year, I wore a Cool Wear UA shirt and my UA leggings. I was happy with the leggings, not so happy with the shirt. So I decided to go with the leggings but try out my arm warmers and a sleeveless shirt (as that's all I had, no short sleeve shirt clean. I should have done laundry sooner in the week). I get to the parking lot and get out only to see that EVERYONE it seems is in shorts. WTF?! I'm in my sleeveless and arm warmers and DID NOT want to take off my jacket! But I did and immediately put on a cotton t-shirt. I'll later regret this move. But I headed over to the starting line area. Talked to a former NIU colleague for quite a while about running and then it was 5 minutes to post! I saw my boss and ran up to say hello. She was decked out in pink. I told her that I had a runny nose and a cough but my energy is feeling much better. But I'm not expecting great things. I stayed around that area until the starting point. It took about 15 seconds or so to cross the starting line. This is a BIG race. A lot of CARA people come out for it. Kayte, my boss, took off to the right side of the road but I stayed on the left-ish side and soon lost her. She was way in front. "Phil" my Garmin was saying over 10 minutes and slowly coming down. The first mile is always congested with this race and it's uphill a little bit and no one realises that. I settle into a rhythm. Heading south on Somonauk and I don't really feel the wind since we were still in the city of Sycamore so I had no idea what was coming for me. Turn left onto Bethany and BOOM! The wind was at my back and helping me along. I LOVED IT! Every year, the route takes us by a horse farm. Last year the horses were out to pasture and they just stood there staring at us. As I said to myself, wondering what the heck all these humans are doing. This year was a completely different story. They were running with us! The four of them were galloping up along the fence and then turned and ran with us in the same direction along the fence. When they reached the end, they turned and headed back against us but it was so fun to see them do that! That they run just to have fun too! I took off my cotton shirt after that and just let it drape around my neck like I did last weekend. However, since it was a short sleeve shirt, it didn't want to stay behind my shoulders. But after I got used to it, I just let it stay where it wanted to. My arm warmers were working great! I used the shirt a few times to blow my nose into it. Takes much more energy and disrupts your breathing rhythm to keep your mucus in your nose than to just let it go. Turning north on Airport Rd. was another different story. I know that Airport has hills and farm land and with the corn gone, nothing to block the west wind. Sure enough, BLAST from the left. It knocked me off my stride. The entire way north on Airport I was fighting the wind, not myself or the hills. I don't even remember the hills. Just the damn wind. It was fierce. I also passed by boss at a hill on this road. I didn't say anything to her as I went by. I don't think she knew it was me though. Before mile 4.5 I got beside this woman. She was breathing so hard I could hear her. Another blast of wind. I said Damn. She asked "The wind?" I said yes. I was on her left and I said "Well, at least I'm blocking it for you!" She said "I think I'll need someone bigger than you." I replied, "Every little bit helps!" She said that she wasn't looking forward to the park, I agreed not with this wind. I told her that everytime I see the park, I think the finish is almost here but alas we haven't even reached 5 miles yet! She knew how I felt. I said that we can pace each other. She asked 9:15? I said yes. So we stayed with each other. And together we stayed. We reached 5 miles and it was great. Through the wind, the bridges, the turns, the hills. We kept urging each other on. Finally reaching 6 miles. What no one told me the first time is that 6 miles, there's still .2 left (which I knew) but at the .1 mark is when the hill starts arriving. Before the hill, we still managed to stay with the pace but at the bottom she said "Let's go!" and she started to kick it! So I was with her and I said "We can do it!" and escalated up the hill. But we both slowed down considerably again but then she said "Go Go Go!" and I think we both grrred and we crossed the finish line! I always miss the clock because it's is so far off the shoots. I turned around to give her a high five and she hugged me as well as we kept on walking down the shoot. I forgot to stop my Garmin at that time but after the end of the shoot it auto paused anyway since I stopped. We introduced each other, she asked where I was from. We're both from DeKalb. She said that if I hadn't of picked her up she would have been way back there. She asked what my normal pace was I said about this to 9:30 depends on the length. Told her I was training for my first marathon. She said that she always wanted to do one. Then she said that she should give me her name and number and if I ever wanted a running partner, to look her up. We both didn't have a writing utensil but I have her bib number (#691) and she works at Castle Bank. [Side story: Owner of Castle Bank makes all his employees run in the Pumpkinfest 10k and wear company shirts specially made for this race. My goal was to pass every runner with that shirt on. I didn't but it was nice lofty goal.] Afterwards, I stood in line for my sticker with my pace, finish time, overall, sex and age group finish. It's nice that it comes on a sticker for I just put it on the back of my bib number. I have kept every single bib number I've been in. I've got to do something with them soon! Maybe distrubute them by year and collage them or something. After I got that, then I went over for my free glass of beer and sat on the hill. I put my cotton shirt back on but still chilly. I didn't even finish my beer since I had no one at the race and just headed back to the car. My goal was to do another 6 after that but my legs were a little sore and with this wind, I didn't want to do with it. So I'll just do the normal milage this week and hopefully be able to do a Half Marathon this weekend. I sure hope I can. Now on to the SPIbelt. I put chapstick, my iPod, a couple cough drops (which I didn't use) and my car key. But it bounced the entire way. Around my belly button too. Come to find out, it's really elasticky and I could have moved it lower, below my belly button and just above my hip bones. Then it wouldn't have bounced. Found this out once I got home! So I'll take it out on me with a few of my runs this week and see if I can improve on the belt but the arm warmers are definitely a MUST! Overall finish: 2006: 553; 2007: 693; 2008 - 670 Sex Group finish: 2006: 128; 2007: 202; 2008: 197 Age Group finish: 2006: 14; 2007: 32; 2008: 35 Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 851 ft Location: Sycamore, IL Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 10/26/08 Up/Downhill: [+154/-154] Time: 09:35 AM Difficulty: 2.2 / 5.0 Weather: Fair and Breezy 52 F temp; 46% humidity 52 F heat index; winds W 23 G 29 Performance Distance: 6.26 miles Time: 0:57:41 Speed: 6.5 mph Pace: 9' 13 /mi Calories: 657 Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 14 +0' 01 6.5 -0.0 +27 ft 2 8' 58 -0' 15 6.7 +0.2 -3 ft 3 8' 57 -0' 16 6.7 +0.2 -33 ft 4 9' 11 -0' 02 6.5 +0.0 0 ft 5 9' 14 +0' 01 6.5 -0.0 -3 ft 6 9' 25 +0' 12 6.4 -0.1 -3 ft end 10' 08 +0' 55 5.9 -0.6 +16 ft Versus average of 9' 13 min/mile

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Categories: Pumpkinfest 10k