Frosty Kroc 10K - 2015

Perhaps it was the near-freezing temperatures. Or the road conditions. Or people wanted to sleep late. Or maybe the fast kids were in other places, working on other races. Whatever the reason, today marked only the second time a medal has been placed around my neck for any sort of race. With a time of 53:XX, IronNerd earned second place in the Men's 34-44 age group!

Something of a sloppy event. Volunteers at registration weren't too insightful with spontaneous questions such as, "Where does the race start?" The city of Biloxi was in the middle of a major overhaul of many of the surface streets making race conditions somewhat sketchy in places. The lone water station was technically staffed, but the person there wasn't handing out water or offering any words of encouragement. And the organizers decided to wrap up the race with TWO loops around their running track. But the after party was good (at least the chicken biscuits were!) and the Kroc Center itself was quite impressive.

My average pace was just under 9min/mile, which included stripping off a jacket and multiple walks to catch my breath. Still fighting off self-destructive thoughts and a constant desire to quit. But average running pace is approaching 8min/min and few (if any?) of the other runners passed me, even as we were approaching the finish.

Overall, still very happy with my improvement and increased conditioning. If only my stupid brain would cooperate!