Sunday was my return to Talley Vineyards to run their 10K.   2 years ago this was my second ever 10k and the first time I broke an hour, taking 12 minutes off my first attempt.  Like I mentioned before, my first 10K was kind of a mess.  After May where I completed the bare minimum in training to get by, and a rough week last week, I was feeling less than enthusiastic for race morning.  After a scant 5 hours of sleep (I kept having nightmares of being chased by a car?) I was up early Sunday morning to head out.   Race crew that morning was me, my mom and S.

2 years ago, I remember it taking forever to get to Talley.    Not so much this year, we arrived with 40 minutes to spare.   The morning was cloudy and cold.  After stalking the weather for a few days, I had made alast minute outfit change that morning.  Instead of theSkirtSports skirt I had been planning on, I switched to my Pro Compressioncapris because I find them to be comfy and super warm.  I headed to use theport-a-potties before the race and then back to the car to finish getting ready.    I finally headed to the start line a few minutes before 8.

Ok, so here’s where it gets tricky.  Talley Vineyard has been running this race for the last 22 years in memory of a family member who passed away suddenly.     They offer a 5K, 10K, 1 mile walk and a kids mile.   Those first three races?  They all start within 10 minutes of each other.  5K first, followed by the 10K 5 minutes later, then the mile walk.  Sounds like a logistical nightmare right?  Nope, they have this down.   All 3 races have slightly different courses and only intersect at points along the course.    Even then, the trails were always wide enough to easily pass the walkers.    The course has people directing you at certain points and is very well-marked.  Which is great because otherwise we would get lost.  Check out this map-   So we lined up and waited the few minutes while the 5K started.  I overheard the cutest thing from this older couple.  They were in front of me at the start.  They were discussing their plan for the race and the woman wanted to move back.  When asked why, she said that you should start where you plan to finish and they were not going to be front of the pack.  She was awesome!!  Then the MC shot off the gun and we were off!Miles 1-3-  8:48, 9:12, 9:21 Went out too fast, per usual, but decided what the hell. My only real goal was to finish the race but outside of that, I wouldn’t mind a sub 10:00 average pace.   But May was so off, I wasn’t too optimistic.   As you can see, I slowed after the first mile.   A big contributor to that though was the temp.   It went from 55 and cloudy to sunny and damn near 70 by the end of the first mile.   How is that even possible?!    I was regretting the pants big time and I had 4+ miles to go.   Each little incline felt like a mountain.  I knew this wasn’t a PR race, so I decided to walk them.  I could walk them almost as fast as I was running them and would use less energy.   At least that’s what I told myself.  It helped that no one ever passed me on a hill.    I actually hit the 5K mark somewhat close to my PR.   We also ran into the biggest group of walkers here.  But, like I said, there was never a traffic jam and it was easy to pass.Miles 4-6- 9:37, 8:46, 9:12 It was getting so warm, they had 3-4 water stations but I was glad I had brought my usualSkratch Labs, it was so needed.  Those little inclines were getting harder and I was feeling it.  Truthfully, I am not sure where mile 5 came from.  Other than it had the most shade out of any other mile.  In fact, we were running along the vines and to my left was a 15 foot drop into a canyon-like ditch.  It was completely shaded and I kind of just wanted to fall in it and cool down.  🙂   But I didn’t.  Mile 6 started in the 8’s but I watched the time climb on my watch.  I knew that I had run the race way faster than planned so at mile 5.7 I checked my watch.  I saw that in order to PR, I would have to run the final .5 mile in 3 minutes.  Yeah, I couldn’t do that on a perfect effort on a perfect day.  So I took amuch needed 20 second walk break.   Then I pushed on to the finish.

Finish- 56:54 WhewHonestly, that is so much faster than I thought I was going to be.   It’s not even that far off of my PR- 55:40 and this was not a best effort kind of day.   I was complaining that I missed the heat but I wasn’t looking for it come around that fast!  I was so overdressed.  I can’t even put my hair in a pony tail anymore but it was literally dripping.  Blech.     My trail shoes were an awesome choice for running through the vineyard, though.  At the start line, I noticed I wasn’t the only one who had thought that.  🙂 The race was well organized, and well run just like 2 years previous.  The finish line had a band and some yummy fresh fruit.    The scenery while running through the vineyards was awesome.  They were numerous times I wanted to take a picture but I was running faster than planned so I decided to see what I could run instead.   I am hopeful that the fact that I could pull this off under trained means I may have a shot at a PR in one of my September 10K’s.  Assuming I actually start training again but that’s another story.    🙂   My only gripe is that even though you were given a chip, the race was still run by gun time.  So my official finishing time is 56:56.  Grrrrr. Finishing 3 minutes faster than Bands on the Run 2 weeks ago was kind of awesome.  This was the fastest 10k I’ve run on over a year.  Woo hoo! Ever run through a vineyard? Have you run a race with a big temperature jump?

• Run!