Lake Hartwell Dam Run- 10K
The weather forecast for Saturday called for showers but with the way the weather has been for the past couple of months I didn't expect it to hit. Well I was wrong. I woke up about 3:00 a.m. Saturday morning to hear pouring rain outside. I went back to sleep and woke up 2.5 hrs later to hear the same, just not as hard. I left and went over to the race and the whole way there it started raning harder and harder- and it was pretty chilly- 55* which isn't all that cold, but with the rain it was cold. I didn't pack for this!!! Kathy and Glenn had gone up to the lake house earlier on Friday and the plan was for me to leave work and drive up.

As I got to the race it was just as crowded as ever. I figured the weather would have kept some people but it didn't.

I got signed in and took off for a short warm up and to see how my ham string felt. I had hurt the ham string again on Wednesday while out for a run.

I only did a .5 mile with about 3 short strides thrown in. The ham string was tight but didn't hurt so I decided to go ahead and run the race and just make a determination of what to do as the race went on.

This race is pretty fun as it starts in Georgia, runs across the river in to South Carolina. We turn around at the 5K start line and run across the Lake Hartwell Dam and back in to Georgia. I have walked the last 2 years at different points in this race due to not being in shape and starting out too hard. Plus, after a 1.5 mile slope down we slope up for 1.5 miles to the turn around and that long slope up has gotten the best of me.

We were a few minutes late starting due to the wather and the late busses taking the 5K'ers to their start line. Finally we were off. The rain was still coming down but shortly in to the race is was welcomed as it was helping to stay cool. I felt like I was running a pretty conservative start. I passed the first mile marker at 7:26. That was pretty good. The breathing was in check.
Half way through mile 2 we cross the bridge and start up the other side in to SC. I slowed a bit to try to make sure I didn't burn it out up the hill and convince myself to walk. Passed the mile 2 marker at 7:57 but the steepest part of the hill was coming now. I made it to the top to the turn around without walking and made the turn. This is another thing that gets me every year. I know I had just come up a hill but after turning I feel like I am still going up hill- some kind of optical illusion to me or something. So I just looked down and ran or watched the other runners coming towards me to keep from looking at the grade of the road. We split off of the road and on to the dam. Some how I missed the 3 mile marker and figured it was at the turn around but after looking at my splits that wasn't it. The mile 3 and 4 mile split combined was 16:16. Mile 3 was probably over 8:00 due to the hill. During mile 4 I had passed a couple of people so I figured it was under 8:00. I was feeling strong but my breathing was starting to get labored. I passed a couple more people and then we hit the 5 mile marker at 7:49. I had run here last weekend when we were at the lake house and had a really good run so I concentrated on how good that run had felt, especially 6 mile of the run which is where I was on the course now. However, last week it was beautiful and sunny. This week, the hardest rain of the morning was hitting us now. I no long tried to run around the puddles- we just plodded through them. As I approached the 6 mile marker I heard foot steps stomping through the water coming up on me quickly. I tried to speed up the best I could but a guy pulled beside me right at the 6 mile marker. I hit mile 6 with a 7:37 mile. We turned the corner and someone was right behind us. The guy beside me and I pushed with everything we had. People were cheering on both sides as this had turned in to a pretty good 3 way push to the finish. I was slightly in front but with .1 to go felt like I was going to throw up and actually startd gagging. I tried to push on but with aboout 25 yards to go had to step to the side for a second. Started back up and finished about 7 seconds behind them. Last .2 was run 1.32. I have felt like I was going to get sick after crossing the finish line but have never had to pull to the side before the finish line. I didn't get sick when I stepped to the side but came real close.

I ended up finishing 47th over all and 5th in my age group with a time of 48:41. I am not running my times that I have in the past but am feeling very confident that I am on my way back to getting there. I am feeling stronger and stronger as time goes on. Now, if I can keep my ham string healthy and get my miles back up I will feel good going in to the summer race series.

Mile Split
1 7.26
2 7.57
3 mile 3&4
4 16.16
5 7.49
6 7.37
.2 1.32

Total- 48.41