Saturday's Race

What a great event!  The Pensacola Runners Association's (PRA) annual Beak Lake Challenge 4 Mile Run was a huge success.  Over 150 runners showed up!  The weather was pretty good with just enough of an overcast that the sun wasn't beating down on us.  However, that also meant it was humid.  But hey, we live in Florida.  It's always humid!  LOL  The trail was well marked and even most of the roots were well marked.  I have a habit of falling during these trail runs.  Not this time.  I was able to stay on my feet the whole race.  I did stumble one time, but was able to recover.  Made me a tad nervous as I twisted my left ankle just a bit.  And yes, it was the 'bad' ankle.  It turned out to be nothing serious.  Took a rest day yesterday.  No problems today at all.

Sweet awards too!

Now the race itself.  Since I am still getting back to my pre-injury level, I wasn't sure how I'd fair in the race.  I went out at a pretty even pace.  I told myself I wanted to at least go 3 miles before stopping.  It's still hard for me to say that!  Keep in mind that before my foot injury, I was running 13 miles without stopping.  Anyway, I got just past the 3 miles point and had to stop and walk.  I did this probably 3 times before the end.  I was spent.  Nothing left in the tank.

Needless to say, I was surprised to see my time of 36.13 earned me 2nd place in my age group.  Not near as good as last year, but hey, I did stop 3 times and walk!

Overall, it was a great day.  The PRA uses this race to hold their annual elections.  So, after the race, they held their elections and elected the new officers.  Good food and good company.