It was a sunny and just a little bit of wind at the start of the race. Not too many people lined up to run the race. That is the best thing about a small town race.
When the horn sounded, I was near the front of the pack. Two guys, a teen boy and girl and two younger girls were part of the pack I ran with. One of the guys was leading the race, followed by the teen boy and girl. I was running next to another guy, but not for long. We made a right hand turn and he charged up the short incline. He got away from me. But I did stay with the teen boy and girl and the two younger girls. Not long after, I caught the youngest of the girls as she needed to stop and walk. Running down a nice hill, I caught up with the other young girl. She needed to tie her shoes. I kept going and thought if I stay where I am, it would be a good day.
The course made another right and the course went from paved road to dirt. The leading guy was getting away. The guy who I started next to, passed the teen boy and girl. As of then I was in fifth place overall. The dirt road has rolling country hills. I decided just to look ahead on the dirt about 10 feet in front of me. I wanted to make sure I didn't twist my ankles on any holes in the road or big stones. I would look up at the teens in front of me and I thought I was getting closer to them. I was behind them just a couple of seconds. Then the teens stop. The girl needed to walk. I passed them and kept going. After passing them, I could hear that they starting running again as they were kicking stones.
I passed the halfway point and the water stop in 13:XX. I kept telling myself keep going and I could finish third overall. The course just went around the country block near the middle school. When passing the halfway mark, we turned right and back on paved roads. As I was running alone, I could hear birds chirping and cows mooing. I could also tell that I passed a hog farm, as they all smell the same. As I would know, I lived on a hog farm for 19 years.
We made another right hand turn onto the road that would lead us back to the middle school. I kept listening for noises behind me. I couldn't hear anything. Then out of nowhere, the teen boy came flying by me. I told him 'good job', but he didn't hear me as he had headphones on. I didn't know if the teen girl was right behind me, so I kept going and didn't look behind me.
Before turning into the middle school parking lot, the road inclines. When I started running up the incline, I just looked about 10 feet in front of me on the road. I didn't want to see how much longer I had to run up the hill. A few spectators and the race winner were standing on the side of the road giving encouragement. I finally made it up the long incline and turned right into the parking lot. I was then able to see the clock and knew I had to run faster. I crossed the line in 27:43. I was fourth overall and the first woman. I looked up last year's time when I got home and saw it was exactly the same as this year's, 27:43. Weird.
My goal since the Glass City Half Marathon is to lose weight. I have lost 3 pounds since then. I need to keep on this path and I know my times will keep dropping.
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