Champion of Trees 10K

On Sunday I ran in the Champion of Trees 10K (6.2 miles) with two friends. All week long the forecast was for rain so when the forecast changed to snow we were a least a bit happier. It started snowing as soon as we started our drive towards the race. (The snow did not stop until 8pm that night!!) Thankfully we got there in enough time to go to the bathroom, get lined up at the start, and even to get a heat pack from one of the sponsors. 

My friend's husband runs way faster than us so he headed closer to the starting line while my friend and I stuck close to the 11 minute pace sign. The first part of the course is a small loop where you go up a fairly large hill early (Frost Hill), loop around towards the start line, and then have to do Frost Hill for a second time before doing a much larger loop. I am NOT used to running hills so let's just say my butt is seriously feeling it today!

I felt fairly good running so I left my friend to go faster on the downhill sections before we finished the first mile- gotta take advantage of those! Sadly I have no idea what my splits are because Nike+ thought that I ran 6.3 and once I changed the mileage to 6.2 the split information is wiped away. :-(

By mile 2 I put away the heat pack that I had been trading from hand to hand and took off my gloves. I wore a baseball cap so that it wouldn't snow/rain in my eyes and that somewhat helped, but it was windy and I was still getting a lot of snow in my face. Around mile 3 I noticed that my socks were wet which was a bit uncomfortable. During mile 3 was the only time I stopped to drink water on the course. By mile 4 I started trying to psych myself up and thought "less than 24 minutes left of running!" I had been trying to run up most of the hills on the course but in the last two miles I ended up walking at least part of most of them. Thankfully most of the last two miles are actually downhill so I saved a lot of time there. I was worried that I would slip but the ground temperature was warm enough that no ice formed during the race. Phew!

Mid race photo

I kept thinking that my friend would catch up with me as I ran the first two miles without walking and then would take a walk break every 1/2 mile or so, but she stayed behind me the entire race. Once I hit mile 6 I looked for the finish but we had to run around a curve and it certainly felt like more than .2 of a mile before we finally hit the finish line! About a minute later my friend came through the finish line.

Me right after the race- check out the snow/ice on my hat brim!

Official 10K time: 1:06:20

Pace: 10:41/mile

A new 10K PR by over FIVE MINUTES! 

(My last 10K and previous PR was this same race only four months after having Izzy. This is only my third time running a 10K.)

Thankfully all of us thought ahead to bring a new set of clothes so we peeled the wet clothes off in the bathroom after the race and changed into dry clothes for the ride home. I got home before CP and the kids so I took a nice warm bath and stayed inside the rest of the day while it snowed!

Next up? I have signed up for the Soldier Field 10 miler Memorial Day weekend and then the weekend after that, a half marathon!