2014 Possum Trot 10K Recap

Ever since February I have been excited about running this race again. I have been wanting to hit the 47 minute mark of a 10K ever since I hit 51 minutes. I know, I know there is a BIG time difference there, but it was my goal and I was determined to do it.

Like every night before a race I made some sort of pasta dinner. So I decided I would just go with the basic spaghetti with this 6 cheese sauce. Yum!

I laid out my clothes and got everything else ready to go so I wouldn't be rushing around the house at 4 AM trying to get things together.

After double checking and making sure I had everything, it was time for bed. I had my alarm clock set for 4:40. Since I am almost an hour away from this race I needed to leave in plenty of time to make sure I could park in the main parking lot.

Of course morning came too soon. I got up and got dressed and was out the door by 4:50. Yep, it doesn't take me long at all to get ready.

I got to the Chattahoochee Nature Center at 5:45. Plenty of time. So I relaxed for a bit in the car until Brandi and her parents arrived. I walked with them to get their bibs (already had mine) then back to the car to get things lined up before making that .5 mile walk to the start.

For once in my running career I started more in the back. I had my reasons. I didn't want to start off too fast for this race. I knew by being closer to the back I would have no choice but to be a bit slower than normal. Plus, it was REALLY humid out. I needed to take it easy.

At 7:33, we're off!!

I was feeling pretty good until about mile 2. I noticed that my left calf muscle was acting weird. I stretched before the race but maybe I had over-stretched it? I tried to make myself forget about it because it seemed to only get worse the more it was on my mind.

After the turn around, I knew something just wasn't right and that I wasn't even going to try to PR. I was going to be lucky if I even finished. My left knee start giving me some problems. It may have been because I was already dealing with a messed up calf muscle. Who knows.

Between mile 4 and 5, it was all I could do to make myself keep going. For the first time in my life I wanted to quit the race. I was done BUT I kept going. I had 2 miles left. I pushed through it barely and finished. My time was not where I wanted it to be but I did finish under an hour.

Official time was 57:19. Ouch! I haven't done that bad since the 2012 Peachtree Road Race.

Finishers shirt

I decided though that I will be back in February. I am determined to get to that 47 minutes. Maybe the cold weather will be on my side unlike the hot, humid weather from that Saturday.


Sorry for the lack of photos.My normal, personal photographer wasn't able to attend this race. :(