Tighurt Running

Cheerios Challenge 10K
April 17, 2010
Covington, GA
Time: 47:37
Age Group: 3/11
Overall: 23

Award: Trophy

Comments:Today was a hard day to choose a race. There were so many great races - even three different locations with the possibility of running both a 5K and 10K. I decided to head up to Covington to try out the Cheerios Challenge races. I had heard some nice things about the race in the past and wanted to give a new place a try.

The race was headquartered in a YMCA building, a nice facility. Only problem; very limited bathrooms. I knew the race was expected to be quite large and was mystified on what they would use for bathrooms. I never did figure this out.

I picked up my packet and shirt. This race was quite affordable and gave a discounted price to crazy people that wanted to run both races. They also gave the option to pay $5 more and get a technical shirt. I decided to save my money, but almost wished I had ordered the tech shirt. The shirts looked quite nice in both fabrics - especially the nicely designed back logo.

I had heard at the starting line that the course had some hills. I was happy to hear that information. I love hills and almost always need hills to get a PR. I almost never get a chance to run a 10K first in a double race. These days so many of the 10Ks are becoming 10.5Ks that even running a 10K seems like an exciting event. I wanted to destroy my 10K PR in these great circumstances. Surely I could dominate this course and break the record I had set on Thanksgiving up and down the brutal hills of Birmingham.

Well, not really.

I went out fast, but not far under my goal pace. I quickly found out that the hills were not a joke. They just kept coming, one after another. I could never seem to get comfortable and into the flow of the hills like I can in some races. I also had underestimated the constancy of the elevation changes. I was passed quite a number of times over the last few miles, something I really hate. It always means I have not paced well.

Despite my poor pacing, I really liked the course. It had tons of turns. I really had no idea where I was most of the race. The finish line always seemed to be one more turn away. There was one section of the course that we looped twice that I could have done without, but for the most part it was interesting, varied, and fairly scenic.

I kept a decent enough pace up across the line, encouraged by the slim chance I still had of PRing. I came across the line all of 3 seconds faster than my old PR. So I did PR, but hardly the strong showing I had dreamed about. I was amazed to find myself holding down 3rd place in my age group. I told Terry Patterson that it was one of the least-deserved 3rd places ever...but that I would happily take it. The trophy was interesting: a winged running shoe with watch on a small reddish base. I liked it.

The race really seemed to do many things well. The course had tons of volunteers and lots of water. Volunteers at the finish handed runners bottles of water as they crossed. Decent refreshments were available, many provided by the sponsors of the race. General Mills had an acre of Cheerios available for everyone - as well as the Honey Nut Cheerios bee. All of the races had a nice friendly, hometown feel. That's hard to get with as many people were running the combined races (over 1000 according to the MC.)

Cheerios Challenge 10K
April 17, 2010
Covington, GA
Time: 23:48
Age Group: 7
Overall: 30

Comments: The Cheerios Challenge 5K was really just an extension of the 10K to me. I decided not to kill myself on this race, having given all I had to the 10K earlier. I ran the race as hard as possible with no thought of obtaining a PR. I mainly just wanted to finish in under 24 minutes.

The course followed much the same path as the beginning and end of the 10K I had a decent run and finished 30th overall - not bad for a race with more than 500 entrants.