Harpole's Heartland Lodge & Resort Blog

Less than week after the Mizzou triathlon I raced in Bridge The Gap 10k run in Quincy Illinois.  Quincy is my hometown so I was looking forward to returning home and running in the race.

My good friend Eric Fleming asked if I would help out at the race expo the night before. The Quincy Multi Sports Club had a booth at the expo. I didn’t think I was going to be able to make it but that morning my schedule opened up and I was able to spend the day at the expo. Living in the remote area around Heartland Lodge, I was happy to talk with and be around other runners.

Eric and his family took me out for a pasta, carb-loading dinner during a break we took from the expo. I enjoyed having dinner with his family. After dinner I went back to the expo to finish up and help Eric tear down the booth. Afterwards I headed to my sister’s. That would be where I would stay for the weekend. I was looking forward to seeing my four nephews!!

I arrived at their house and was able to spend some time with the boys before they were of off to bed. I went down to my room and started getting all my race stuff ready. I made the mistake of training hard most of the week after the Mizzou Tri. Thurs and Fri I was feeling very fatigued so I didn’t know how I would do in the race. But I wasn’t expecting much and just wanted to have a fun day. I stayed up later than normal and then finally went to bed. The race didn’t start until 9am so I had plenty of time to sleep in.

For some crazy reason, I woke up at 4:30 and couldn’t go back to sleep!! Frustrating! So finally I got out of bed and started my pre race routine. Fueling up for the race, drinking lots of water, getting my cloths on etc. I had breakfast with the boys, and then headed to the river front, the location of the race. I was there 2hrs early! So I had time to kill. After awhile others started showing up and the time went by fast. I looked down at my Garmin and there were 15minutes before start time, so it was time to GU up.

I was feeling good before the race despite not sleeping and being so tired the day before. The gun went off and I took off….in fact I took of way faster than I thought I should, but I felt good, so I kept going.  I hit the 3 mile mark and I realized I was running a 7min mile. Much faster than my normal 10K time. I was still feeling good but wondered if I would run out of gas. I knew once I got to the last mile I would be fine, but I had two more to go…Should I slow down or keep the pace?? I decided to keep going, so I didn’t slow down. After mile marker 5 I was still feeling good. Wow!! It’s amazing how some days you just feel great and can run like you have never before…and other days it’s a struggle just to finish! Once I was on the last ½ mile stretch I was feeling it but I am always able to kick it out. I had to dodge the walkers who were participating as well. I looked up at the race clock and it showed that I broke the 8 min mile!! It was my first 7min mile 10K race. A personal best!!

I stuck around after race to see some friends and enjoy the great weather. It warmed up and was in the mid 70’s. Then I heard something about Nebo IL during the award ceremony and then someone said you took first! I was very surprised! I ended up taking first in my age group! Another first for my short racing career!

I spent the rest of the day feeling the after race high you get when finishing a triathlon or run. I had to get rested up because a good buddy of mine was having a birthday party that evening and I knew it could be a long night!

Gary

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