Heather, Kara, and Kara's fiance Adam all signed up too, so we met up to carpool together. We parked in a deck at the park and walked over to the staging area. After standing in line to get our bibs, t-shirts, and LED bands, we took a few pictures...
Kara, Heather, and me ready to go!
Then we headed to the starting line. It was just around the corner, down the sidewalk outside the park, and no announcement was made directing people to head to the start in X number of minutes or anything, so a lot of folks were strolling towards the start without any real sense of urgency. This ticked off the announcer at the starting line, who began making remarks such as, "To all of you just sauntering to the start, please pick up your feet. Some of us would like to get started." Definitely could have done without the sarcasm!
Once we finally made it, we waited for five minutes or so and then the gun went off. This was my first race with my new Garmin, so I was pretty excited about being able to keep an eye on my pace and time.
I crossed the starting line at 8:05 PM. Of course there was a huge crush of people at the beginning, and it took a while for the walkers to move towards the right and let the runners pass on the left. The course also began with a series of rolling hills which slowed a lot of people down immediately. We ran out of the park down 10th Street, passed Blake's and The Flying Biscuit, and turned into Midtown, passing Shout. I finished Mile 1 in 11:20... not the greatest.
We then ran through some pretty dark residential areas. I was feeling strong and definitely thankful for the cool night air. We passed a house all decked out for Halloween with orange lights, spiderwebs, and gravestones -- it reminded me of what my parents used to do when I was a kid. There was also an area set up where a DJ had strung colored lights among some trees and was playing Katy Perry music. He had a sign that said "On site entertainment" so I'm assuming he was hired by the race. I hit mile 2 in 10:21.
Almost immediately after beginning the second mile, we approached a hill much bigger than the so-called Cardiac Hill along the Peachtree course. I was determined not to let it affect my pace too much, so I pushed myself and made sure to control my breathing, which is what usually saps my energy. Heather said she saw a woman throwing up right around that area when she came through, so apparently it was pretty challenging haha.
The remainder of the course was fairly flat. We ran into the park, back out, and back in again. I looked at my watch, saw I was at 2.81 miles, and decided to give it everything I had. It's a really good feeling to have some energy left at the end and finish strong. My pace for the third mile was 9:48, with the pace for the remaining 1/10 mile 8:05. :)
Overall, my Garmin said 33:01 for my finish time, and my official chip time was 32:52, which is a 10:35 pace. I am still struggling to return to my 10:00 pace, but each run recently has decreased by 5-10 seconds, so I'm getting there.
