After little sleep Friday night at the campout, then biking on Saturday, and cleaning up from the campout all day, I was exhausted by 11pm when I tried to get to sleep. Checking the weather, it was going to be a nice 50o day, but there were rain showers predicted all morning. I had a rough night of sleep, but even with the better weather prediction when I checked at 7am, I was really wanting to just go back to bed. I was relieved I had signed up for the 10k since the start time was 9:30am (5k started at 8am), but since it was a point-to-point course, I had to be downtown and on a shuttle before 8:45 or I'd miss it. I knew traffic would be horrible downtown, especially trying to get out of the city with the Pirates game starting at 1pm or so. I decided to park a couple miles away and bike to the gym at work so I had a quick exit. Since we're the primary sponsor, they had the gym open so we could get a locker, hang out where it was warm and dry until catching a shuttle. Such a nice benefit! The family all wanted to come down, but with the unpredictable weather, me having to catch a shuttle and them waiting for the race to start, I told them to sleep in...it just wasn't worth the several hours of waiting...possibly in the rain. Shuttle took forever to get out there, then the walk to the entrances to the starting area. With over 8,000 10k runners, it didn't surprise me, but usually I try to get to the start line a little earlier so I can at least warm up a little. I didn't get in any warm up at all to speak of, just standing in the front 1/3 of the pack of runners hoping the rain holds off. As I'm standing there, I realize I didn't bring my signature skull and crossbones doorag! Bad omen or did it just mean more sweat in my eyes?! Finally, the gun went off, and it took about 2 mins to get to the start line. There's a slight downhill and then an uphill. Overall, it's an aided course. I just took the first mile easy since I was having some left lower leg muscle soreness. Plus, it was a sea of runners and I wasn't getting around anyone too soon. The race went well, things thinned out a little, but not a whole lot, even to the finish line. I think my 9:00 pace is a sweet spot for the bulk of runners. Had I been about 7:00 pace, I'm sure it would have been much more spread out. Gorgeous running weather, low 50s, overcast...but then about the 3mi mark, it started drizzling. I wasn't terribly hot, but it still felt good. The drizzle turned to a downpour within a mile. It didn't bother me much except for the freeway on ramp that we go down that's the steepest part of the course. I'm staying in the pack, not doing anything crazy, and the guy behind me clips my heel! I take a couple giant steps, arms flailing to try and keep from face planting! It must have been luck, because I was sure I was going down. I never figured out who it was, and didn't get an apology, but I would have been trampled. My goal was to only walk through the water stops (I can't drink and run at the same time). I only stopped for water twice with all the congestion and walked for maybe 5-10 sec. Even at the 5mi mark when I was really wanting to walk a little, I kept with the plan. Goal time was 55:00 since I figured I was better prepared than last year and 9:00 pace was manageable for that distance. After I got past that 5mi mark, I was feeling pretty good, was on the final decent, then just flat to the finish. I was trying to push it the last 0.7mi but without being rude and pushing through the sea of runners, it just wasn't happening much. I got in behind any person or two that looked like they'd be getting through in order to pick up a second here or there. The final sprint is at the circle we ran all the time for Running 101 so we had "practiced" pushing that final 200m. My training kicked in, and I was ready for it, but it narrows right there and there's no chance of getting around anyone. I wore my Garmin and HRM, but rarely looked at it. I knew I was doing OK, and was pacing myself well for a no-walk 10k. The course measured long again, but trying to run tangents was impossible. Here's the splits: 9:29, 8:32, 8:49, 8:22, 8:51, 7:47, 2:00 (.27 @ 7:24 pace) 
I'm really glad I forced myself to do this race. I would have felt bad if I hadn't done it after taking the Running 101 class and getting the free race fee. The biggest downer for the day is that the Pirates lost so we extend our losing season streak to 20...but we still have the record for the longest streak of losing seasons for all US professional sports! Yippee! :-(
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