Yesterday I ran in the Silver Comet 10k in Mabelton. On my way there, I got to drive through the Concord Covered Bridge, one of only 16 remaining covered bridges in the state of Georgia. Who knew??!!
I got there a half hour before the start; I had to park a little farther away, but it was fine. I got my number and my chip, and it took me some time to figure out how to attach it on my shoe. Hey, it was my first experience with a timing chip! I liked it a lot, especially since I didn’t cross the start line until nearly a minute after the gun. I trotted around the shopping center that was race HQ until it was time to line up. The organizers had us line up by mile times–I stood with the 10-minute milers. I think that was a great way to do it; I had a lot less bobbing and weaving at the beginning than I did at the 5k I ran in January.
The first mile was on the road, with the remainder of the race being on the Silver Comet Trail itself. The was a small “hill” (more like a mound!) in the first mile, the only hill of the course. I had never run on the Trail before, so I didn’t know what to expect. I wasn’t really happy with what I found once we got on the trail: flat as a board and non-scenic. Since I tend to run on hills a lot, I think the “hill” muscles in my legs are a lot stronger than my “flat” muscles, so it was hard to adjust to the flat terrain. I like trail running when it’s pretty, but this one was pretty blah. We passed through a few scenic bits, but mostly it felt like I was running through a tree-lined tunnel. Because of that, it was hard for me to stay mentally engaged in the race. I was dragging through the first half, and I passed the 3-mile mark somewhere in the 28:50’s. Then I realized that I could just finish with a sub-60:00 time as long as I didn’t slow down. I gave myself a little pep talk and decided to get my head in the game and do that shit. Rawr!!!!
I passed through the 5-mile mark in the high 47’s. I instantly got a huge, cheesin’ grin on my face, and I took off for the last 1.2 miles. It was such a great feeling! I crossed the mat and hit my watch, which read 58 something (I accidentally erased it and now I can’t remember what it was, haha). The results were posted online today; my official chip time was 58:31. Woot! I grabbed some water and walked over to line up for the shuttle buses. The buses was the one really annoying thing about the race; I had to wait a half hour to get a ride, and the line behind me was so long that I know a lot of people probably had to wait an hour. There were only two school buses running back and forth between the finish and the start; definitely not enough for the amount of runners. I was lucky enough to get on the first bus. I had to stand the whole way, but whatever. I was cold and starting to feel sick to my stomach; I just wanted to grab my t-shirt back at the start area and get the hell out of there! If I run this race next year, I will definitely try to coordinate it so I have a ride waiting for me at the finish. A lot of people smarter than me had friends or family pick them up.
Overall, I’m glad I did the race. It was very empowering to get that sub-60 time! However, I didn’t love the course or the wait for the bus at the end.
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