This fourth race of the Second Empire Grand Prix of races was held in Cary. This week I had been struggling with a tight hamstring on my right leg following my soccer game on Monday and had been debating on Thursday whether or not to run this race (as I didn't want to injure myself with only two weeks to go until the Shamrock Half Marathon). Following a good run on Thursday my leg felt better and I decided to run the 10K. I lined up at the start with the mind set that I would run hard but if my hamstring tightened up during the race, I would stop.
The weather was again cold (40F, 3C) at the start of the race, the sun was out but there was a blustery wind on parts of the course. I decided to run without my hat and gloves, but with the rest of my cold weather gear on. I followed my now normal routine of using a GU a few minutes before the start of the race.
The course was run on the roads and the 10K course ran a 3 mile loop before joining the 5K course that ran through a couple of local neighborhoods. The main thing that I can remember about today's race was that there were lots of rolling hills throughout the entire course. The hills weren't as bad as those in the previous two 5K races, but there were a couple that I was certainly happy to get to the top of!
The other thing that sticks in my mind about this race was that it was the first time I had seen another runner trip over their own feet and fall flat on their face. She was about 50 yards ahead of me and one second she was running along quite happily, then all of a sudden she was face down in the road! To her credit, she got straight back up and carried on running! I wonder if it happens to her often?
I started in the middle of the pack and had to move from side to side to pass people until the field began to thin out and I settled in to a nice rhythm.
I went through the first mile in 7:27 and realized that I hadn't felt my hamstring at all, even on the inclines. I took advantage of a few downhills in the second mile and had a split of 7:17. I found a couple of other runners that were running at about a pace that I liked and ran with them for the next 3 miles with splits of 7:33, 7:34 and 7:38. At the 5 mile sign I decided to push a little harder and ran mile 6 in 7:22 and finished with a new PR of 46:51!
I am happy to have kept my streak of PR's going, but I am more pleased that I got through the race without feeling my tight hamstring at all.
Local news anchor Bill Leslie was the race MC
After the race, Elizabeth told me that the inflatable finish arch had lost power during the race and had collapsed... luckily for everyone she took a photo!
Joseph Moore won the race with 31:16 (just 8 seconds off of the course record) which gives me 667 points for the Second Empire Grand Prix. I finished 52nd of 254.
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