Remember the Ten 10k

Yesterday I ran my very first 10k race - Remember the Ten. I had decided that if I hadn't shipped to basic training by April then I would sign up for my first 10k race that month to push myself to keep up my running. I had a local race in mind at the end of April, but when I went to register it showed as "sold out". I was annoyed because I wanted to run! I looked for other local 10k races and I could only find one more, that fell on drill weekend so I couldn't go.

A friend from drill told me he was running a 10k called Remember the Ten in April over in Stillwater, OK and said I should do it with him. The race is a fundraiser in honor of ten people from Oklahoma State University (students and faculty) who died in a plane crash in 2001. The race raises money for grief counseling services for students at Oklahoma State, as well as raising money for a scholarship fund in the name of those who died in the crash.

Click to make it bigger

I didn't feel like signing up or this race because Stillwater is an hour and a half away, which would mean an early morning and kind of a long day just for a race. But it looked like my only option to run a 10k anytime soon and my friend would be running it too, so I signed up. Turns out there was a technical error with the website of the local 10k I was hoping to run and it isn't sold out, so I could have registered for that race instead. Oh well.

The forecast for the 10k did not look good. The closer it got to race day, the higher the chance of rain got. I still hoped for the best, the weather can change quickly in Oklahoma, but no. I got to Stillwater and it was raining hard with no end in sight.

My friend Landon crossing the finish line - way before me!

(click to make it bigger)

The picture above hopefully illustrates just how wet this race was! They did say in the event of rain the race would go ahead which it did. At that point I was happy about that because I didn't want to drive all the way over there for nothing! We all got completely soaked before the race even started waiting at the starting line. I did come prepared with two layers under a rain jacket, as well as wearing a headband and gloves. What I didn't anticipate was just how wet my feet would get. I didn't bring a towel, a change of clothes, or another pair of shoes so I drove an hour and a half home soaking wet which was uncomfortable.

The race started and by the end of the first mile I had warmed up. The race took place around the Oklahoma State University campus which was cool for me to see for the first time because that's where Jon went to college.

Finisher t-shirt, beanie hat and medal

I made it halfway through, running the first 3 miles without walking, and then took a 4 minute walk break to recover a little before running the next mile. The longest distance I had ever run before this race was 3.5 miles. For miles 5 and 6 I did a mix of running for a while and then taking a short walk break. I felt strong, I didn't feel out of breath, achy or fatigued, and the weather didn't even bother me after a while. Sure I was wet but while I kept running I still felt warm. Unfortunately there were a couple of places where we had to run through ankle deep water which was pretty bad. It was so uncomfortable to run in wet shoes, I felt like they were falling apart.

But I made it! My first 10k complete, 6.2 miles of running and I finished in a time I was happy with - 1:14:35. I had aimed to finish in 1:15:30 and I did! It was so great to have my friend with me because I never would have driven an hour and a half to run that race in the pouring rain on my own. We didn't run side by side because he's faster than me, he finished in under an hour with a 53:40 time. But it was great to have someone there with me even though we didn't run together.

Crossing the finish line!

(click to make it bigger)

I am super proud of myself for running this 10k and would do another 10k for sure, maybe even this race again in the future.