Middendorf's Manchac 10 mile race recap

David and I were a tad hesitant about the Middendorf's Manchac ten mile race we ran Saturday because I apparently have made sucking at preparation a habit. Friday night we attended a benefit that involved a large quantity of booze and very late hours. Yes, I had 4 Manhattans. Yes, I knew I was racing in the morning. Hm. We got to bed near 1 o'clock, only to be awakened shortly before 4 by our psychotic neighbor, who had been locked out by his roommate and was resourcefully breaking his own window. At one point, shattering glass was followed by low moans of pain, and David and I rushed outside in the dark, expecting to find our neighbor bleeding to death. Instead he was sitting on the ground, pretty stoned, and informed us that the moans were because he had a knee injury. Ooookaay. Eventually he finished splattering glass all over the alley and we drifted off to sleep right before the alarm went off. We got up - I was kind of feeling last night's beverages - and managed to get out of the house.
David and I and a new friend Jen drove together. I met Jen via a local track club, and not only does she live down the street, she basically runs exactly my pace which is fantastic. (She is a better runner, though - more experienced, nice form, lots of marathons). We can certainly work in some longs runs together! Oh yeah, and she is very sweet and easy to talk to, and since we both run and are in health care (she's a fourth year med student) we have things in common. I definitely enjoyed having her along for the ride!

This was my second pretty good race in a row. I felt a little queasy, but I was ok until mile 7 when I had an espresso gu. It did not mix well with the residual bourbon in my stomach and I finished the race cramping a-plenty. Despite this, I kept an even 7:50 pace, slowing just a little on that last hill to finish in 1:18:43, a 7:52 pace. Jen was counting runners and tells me I finished 8th female overall, although I haven't actually seen the results.
Jen finished right behind me and David surprised himself with a 1:31:30, a time which included a bathroom break.
After these two faster races, I'm starting to finally catch on that, duh, it's a RACE, not a fun run! I tend to run my races so slowly most of the time. I like being in the slightly faster group but I miss the chatting and joking I used to do in the "slow crowd". In both of these races I've made snide remarks and humorous puns that have totally been ignored by the race-minded folks around me.
Plus some dude in American flag shorts snarled, "You suck", when I passed him. Whatever, loser! YOU suck, that's why I passed you!

Yeah, yeah, another race

See, I'm getting this post out of the way on a Saturday so if you don't care about races we can return to regularly scheduled broadcasting on Monday without missing a beat.
Actually I divided it into two because it was getting lengthy. So you can start out with a race review and a pic of sweaty me lovin' my swag.
Today we ran the Middendorf's Manchac ten mile race. It's sponsored by a catfish restaurant in the middle of nowhere (I searched for weather in Manchac and weather.com couldn't even find the town). This race actually rivals the Spillway Classic for most-fun race in the area. For one thing, it's cheap - just $25 for track club members. Plus you get a technical T, ground coffee samples, and vitamin water revive (which I discovered, I really did) samples at the finish. The course is a 10-mile out-and-back on a highway along wetlands and um, some body of water. It's straight and flat except right at the beginning - and thus also right at the end - there is a large bridge. Thus you start running straight up a big hill, and while the finish is at the end of a downhill, it means you have to climb a hill right at 9.5 miles. Kind of boring course, except I enjoyed seeing other runners after the turn-around point. It's a sunny run, so wear sunscreen.
The best part is after the race: Middendorf's serves beer, their famous thin-fried catfish, and coleslaw. DEAL or WHAT?! A shirt, a meal, a drink, and some freebies for $25!
Tomorrow I'll post our rather humorous night-before-race and race recap. See ya then!