Dirty Love 10 K Race Recap

Photo Western Reserve Racing

Yesterday I ran my first race of the 2013 racing season the Dirty Love 10K. This was my first race post baby #3!

Pre-Race things went well. I got dressed in my winter running garb sporting my new Vibram Five Fingers Women's Lontra's. I was so excited to get them I took a picture of them. I also posted the picture on Facebook. Yes I am a dork.

I took two Chocolate Outrage GU Energy Gel packets with me for the race. I picked up these bad boys at Second Sole of Mentor when I bought my new shoes. My husband hired a babysitter for this race. I am so lucky he's so supportive! Once the babysitter arrived, we were able to leave the house on time and without any of the kids being upset. Those of you with children know this can sometimes be a small miracle!

When we got to the Cleveland Metropark where the race was being held registration was super easy. I got my mug and my bib. My number was 333. 3 is my lucky number so my husband and I thought that was another good sign.

We chilled out till the race started. I did a super short warm up in the parking lot. Then the race started, the first mile had participants going over a small creek. It was funny watching people try to figure out how to get across it. Think Survivor meets Wipeout! Some people tried to cross by stepping on the rocks. Some tired to step on a couple of large logs. Thankfully I was by a group of ladies who discovered a large steel beam that I could cross to get rolling on the course. At this point I realized I wasn't going to break any time records and that was okay. My first mile was 18:00. I was a little annoyed because I had been training at about 12:00 miles.

The course was very challenging. There were spots that were super icy. Couple that with very steep up hills and down hills and you have the makings for a slower race time for me. I was afraid of falling and breaking something. I am a tad bit accident prone.

I also had a problem with my technology. I used my iPOD nano for the first part of the race. I hadn't used the thing previously in months and it refused to hold a charge. I am thinking it didn't work because it was so cold. The good thing was that I was wearing my SPIbelt. My husband was concerned about me getting lost or falling so he had me bring my cell phone to be safe. At about the 4 mile mark I had to transition between devices.

At the 4th mile I had some of my GU Energy Gel. Normally I would have eaten it all at this time. But Sunday for some reason I decided to eat it differently. I only had a quarter of the GU rather than the whole thing then when I got close to mile 5 I downed the rest. This was much easier on my stomach. I also felt the little caffeine boost that helped me get to the end of the race.

Thank Heavens for my Garmin Forerunner 110! I was able to keep tabs on how close I was to the finish with that. My husband also was about 400 meters from the finish line which didn't hurt either.

Pros of the race: My new shoes were awesome on the trails. The last trail race I did in my Vibram FiveFinger Bikila's I got several stone bruises. This time no bruises, yay! Also my toes stayed nice and warm and dry.

Fun race swag-A mug versus a standard tee shirt.

Photo Western Reserve Racing

First long race post baby. This race was about me having fun! I had a great time. There were a couple of hills that I walked but the most important thing is that I did much more running than walking. My legs held up nicely despite not much long distance work in my training. I felt pretty strong.

Cons of the race: My husband was kind of bummed the track the athlete feature wasn't working as the organizers had trouble getting Internet service. We got results online shortly after the race.

All in all it was a super fun event. Well organized and a great run. I am glad that I did it! I have another trail race coming up in March.

Did you race this weekend? How did your race go?