I was so excited to sign up for my first race of 2024 (AND FIRST RACE IN ALMOST A YEAR)!  I set my sights on the Annapolis Running Festival. This was only the 2^nd year of the race and they offered a 5k, 10k, and Half Marathon. I signed up for the 10k and recruited some friends to run it with me 🙂

Race morning started super early with a 4:00 am alarm. I had prepped a ton the night before so that I could get out of my house pretty quickly and meet Nichole at 4:45 to head to Annapolis. I did not sleep super great the night before so of course I had the “Why in the world am I doing this” thought as soon as I woke up, but I managed to get myself together and out of the house on time. Side note – I forgot how much time is dedicated to figuring out race logistics. What should I wear for the temps? Should I bring water on the race? How should I wear my hair so it’s the least annoying in case of rain? What should I eat and how long before the race should I eat it? How early should we get to the race? So many considerations and they are especially hard when you are an over-thinker. Lol.  But alas, I had all my bags packed and we were off, right on schedule! The start/finish was at the Navy-Marine Corps Stadium so that is where we parked. We got there around 6 and were able to get the most perfect parking spot, directly behind the finish festival! We had plenty of time to eat, hit the port-a-pots, get our race bibs secured, and overthink all the things again! We were trying to meet up with Kristin but she was stuck in a little bit of traffic so we were worried we would miss seeing her before the start! We finally headed into the race area and ran right into her – yay! We wished each other luck and headed to find a good place to start near the 10:00 pace group! And finally, we were off!!

I blasted my music and settled into what felt like a good pace. A note about that…this was my first time using my Apple Watch to track my run during a race. The information displayed is much smaller than it is on my Garmin watch. With my old eyes and no reading glasses, I really cannot see much data while I’m running with the Apple Watch.  If I hold my wrist out and squint just right, I can sometimes figure out what mile I’m on. I’m sure there is a setting to change all of that but I learned that I actually like it better that way. With my Garmin, I find myself checking my pace a lot and talking myself into speeding up or slowing down. This time I was kind of blind to my pace and just ran at what felt good to me. Spoiler alert – I was pleasantly surprised with my pace at the end!

The course was much more hilly than I expected. I especially didn’t appreciate the bridge hill near the end of the race and it was the first time I had to take a walk break during the course. I think it was somewhere around mile 4.5 – 5. The rain had picked up slightly around this spot on the course for me as well. Let’s talk about weather – I was worried all week that it was going to rain on us for the entire race, but we ended up being pretty lucky! It was misty, but no downpours! Woot Woot! All in all, the weather was pretty perfect for running.

I headed up the last hill that took us to the finishing area and ended up having to walk again but I only allowed myself a quick break and made sure to run around the corner to the finish! Wahoo! I was so glad to finish. At this point, I had no idea what my pace was but I was hoping for about a 10:00 overall average. I collected my medal, water, and all the other race goodies and headed back around towards the finish line because I knew Nichole would be coming around the corner any second. I ran into Kristin who had already finished and we cheered her in together! So fun!! This was when I was able to see my official results and my splits:

Mile 1 – 9:39
Mile 2 – 9:27
Mile 3 – 9:39
Mile 4 – 9:38
Mile 5 – 9:57<==Stupid hill / walk break
Mile 6 – 9:45
Mile .2 – 9:20

Overall time: 59:37
Overall pace: 9:36 per mile
Overall Place: 343 of 1038
Female age 45 – 49: 14 of 75

I am beyond excited with those results! And so happy to be running with other badass ladies who impress me SO MUCH!

Unfortunately, once I stopped running, I realized that it was pretty cold. We took some pics together and then Nichole and I hung out for one drink and some free shrimp but then decided to hit the road. I wish it would have been warmer because there was a fun band and several vendors. Maybe next year!

Stay tuned for more race updates coming soon!