Women Run The Cities - 2016 - Race Recap

Indeed, it turned out to be a lovely day for Women Run The Cities 10 mile race. It did not begin that way though. Rain poured all night and it was all dark and wet in the morning, even when I left home. I was sure it would rain during the race, so I grabbed my rain jacket. I thought it would last all through and did not want to run with a thrash bag or soaked. But indeed, it was all dry & sunny by the time I turned off Hiawatha Avenue. Temps were an average 65F.

Start point is my favorite - Minnehaha Falls. I picked up my bib & shirt. Race route turned out to be the familiar West River Parkway and Franklin Avenue Bridge, which I ran the previous week for 20 miler. Familiarity is always welcome. Women's only race has a great vibe about it. Not much different from other races, because there are just the same number of women running other races. But it's only in women-only race, does everyone get to hoot politely at the group of shirtless men running opposite on the sidewalk.

Race co-ordination was excellent. Starting point tents with pickups, bag drops, coffee and more. Volunteers at every water-stop were cheerful. Water & Powerade supplied just right. At the finish time, the setup was intact (new for me) and volunteers gave a huge bottle of water with my medal.

Roads were all soaking wet, but not a drizzle from sky. I wanted to save my new shoes from the muck/chikal and ran in my old ones. Clothes-wise, I got to check my Fall gear for the first time this season - full pant, tech shirt and rain jacket. Result: Rain jacket was not soaking, full of locked up sweat, but I could run without it, under these circumstances.

I stayed cheerful and devoid of any pressure through the running. I had my months of training behind me, the one I thought had made no dent/improvement to my capacity. So I did not care about my result, but ran what my newly trained brain told me to run. For the second half, I felt comfortable, to see there were a lot of women still on road. And most of them walking much faster than I was running. And then a lady from behind me said, she was using me for motivation. So then I geared up to stay ahead of few atleast :) Amazingly I finished with my 10 mile PR of 2:07 hours.

 

Loving this race shirt with hoodie. It will be a great for Fall.