Ran the Florida Track Club's Micanopy 10-Mile Race Today

 

This morning I got up at the ungodly time of 5:45 to get myself ready for a ten-mile race I had already signed up for.  The Micanopy event, which begins at 8:00, is a combination five and ten-mile race, starting in front of the cemetery on Smith Street, going down Whiting Road south of town and then turning into hilly dirt roads before heading back, finishing in front of the ballpark at 3rd and 6th.  The extra five miles for my chosen ten-mile run consisted of a loop of slopes and hills while the running surface was uneven, slick, rocky and full of treacherous little depressions.  I listened to my MP3 player the whole way, and once the race had gone on a few minutes we were all pretty much spread out on the course and distanced from one another...the way I like it.  The temperature during the race varied from 63 to 67 degrees and the humidity an unpleasant, muggy 83-87%.  The Florida Track Club holds these kinds of races year-round and maintains a positive, low-key spirit that is infectious.  I had set as a goal beating the time of an hour fifty minutes...when I crossed the finish line my time was 1:48:24. I've noticed a peculiar thing about this race and February's half-marathon: my pace seems to strangely speed up a bit when I'm tackling the hills, even though I often walk stretches of the steepest slopes.  My recovery from the race seems to be going well...Melissa and Rebecca accompanied me out there and enjoyed breakfast and then walked around the town while I ran.  Looking back on it, I, too, enjoyed the experience...maybe this can be the start of a new annual tradition...

Here's a link to the race results...