Senior Bowl Charity Run 10K 2016 Recap!

The Senior Bowl Charity Run is a race in my area that I run every year! They have a 5K, 10K, and a fun run!

Since the Senior Bowl is all about football I usually wear my favorite college football team colors to support them! And just in case you don't know...I'm an Auburn Tigers fan! ;-)

You never know what the weather will be....there are several years it was FREEZING cold and others where it was hot and super humid.  This year the weather was pretty perfect! The temps were in the low 60's at start time.

It only takes about 15 minutes to get to the start area from where I live. Donna and I rode together! We parked and then headed to the Senior Bowl office where we were meeting some of our friends.

Then it was time to head to the start line area! They always fly a HUGE American flag! I love it! 

Of course we needed a few in front of the start line pictures! 

I also found my friend Paige who was there with her church group that she had been training to run a 5K! 

The 5K started first...and then 15 minutes later it was time for the 10K to start! 

I LOVE this start line selfie with my friends Kirstin and Jim!!! 

I didn't really have any goals for this race. I was just planning on running it by feel. I knew I wanted to come in under 55 minutes. But other than that I didn't have a goal. 

I started out running pretty fast. I looked down at one point and saw a 7 minute pace. I knew I needed to slow down so I would have the endurance I needed to finish 6.2 miles! 

This course is super flat, fast, and so pretty! There are numerous times where you are running under the canopy of trees! 

I felt amazing this entire race! I kept a pretty steady pace once I found the pace that felt good. 

Around mile 4 I saw a spectator on the side of the road with a cute dog and she was wearing compression socks and a Boston Marathon shirt. I knew instantly that she was a runner. As I got closer I saw that it was Elizabeth from Running For Bling!!! 

She saw it was me about the same time and shouted "Hey Mindy" to me! I said hey and since I was running and my brain barely works while I'm running I asked her why she wasn't running this race. She reminded me because she had run a marathon the weekend before! Duh! I so knew this but couldn't think of that while running lol! Anyone else have dumb brain while running??? Elizabeth ran the Marine Corp Marathon the previous weekend so she was still in recovery mode. She was super sweet and snapped these pictures of me! You can see I was talking while she took the pictures lol! It was great seeing her out on the course!

So...do you see the guy that was running right beside me? He ran beside me or slightly behind me for most of the last half of the race! It wouldn't have bothered me much if he hadn't been breathing like he was going to die! Kind of annoying! 

With about a mile to go I saw Tim And (my favorite photographer) out on the course snapping away pictures! I said hey to him and he commented on my new hair cut (I had gotten it cut the day before)! He always takes great pics! (And you can see the annoying guy slowed down some...he is about two runners behind me at this point)

Finally we came to the point in the race where we were so close to the finish! You can see the RSA Tower in the background. 

At this point there were two women in front of me that looked like they may be in my age group. I had passed one of them at one point in the race but she ended up passing me a little later. I tried my hardest to get in front of them but I just couldn't. 

Finally I made it to the finish line and had energy to sprint in! 

I stopped my Garmin and saw a finish time of 50:17. I knew I had beat last year's time of 52:34. But I wasn't sure if I had PRed or not. I had to look it up! Sure enough I had PRed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My previous PR was 50:40! I was super excited and proud!!! 

My official time was 50:27 (preliminary results said 50:32) and I placed 3rd in my age group!!!! 

This race isn't chipped timed though. You run in to the finish and tear off the bottom of your bib to hand to the officials. So I'm not sure whether to use the official time as my PR or my actual Garmin time. Either way....it's still a PR! 

Tim saw me and Paige enjoying the finish line festival after the race and like he does best...he took a picture of us! 

The bad news...my friend Donna fell during this race. She hit her chin pretty hard on the pavement. She was all bruised and skinned up on her chin, nose, elbow, and knee. She was ok but in some pain. 

The awards ceremony had a late start of 11:30 but I didn't stay because I knew Donna needed to get home. She ended up going to Urgent Care later just to be sure she didn't have a concussion. She was fine...just bruised up. 

I wanted one more picture in front of the fountain before we left! Donna took it for me. 

I didn't think she would want one with her injuries but she did! Good for her! 

Since Donna works within walking distance of the Senior Bowl office, she picked up my age group award for me yesterday! So sweet of her!

This race was a great one like it always is! I was super surprised and super proud to PR! I will be there again next sure for sure!

QOTD: When a race isn't chipped timed what do you count? Your Garmin or the race's "official" time?

Senior Bowl Charity Run 10K Recap!

I love running local races! You still enjoy the race atmosphere but you get to sleep in your own bed! ;-) Of course I love traveling to races too! Who am I kidding? I just love to race!!!

This past weekend I ran the Senior Bowl Charity Run 10K! I've run this race 4 times! It's one that I love to run! There have been a couple of years when I missed it because I was running other races (RnR Savannah and Pensacola Half Marathon) but I love to run it when I can.

Every time I've run this race it's been pretty cold. Last year it was freezing! But not this year. It was in the high 70's with 100% humidity. And it was foggy too. So I knew that this race would be a little tougher than in the past.

I always sport my favorite football team for this race....Auburn!

I was excited that Jenny and Kirstin were running this race too! Their husbands also ran. (If you remember my hubby was at home sick with an upper respiratory infection).

Race morning we started out by taking a few pictures in front of the start line.

After a gorgeous singing of the National Anthem by one of my friend's 10 year old daughter, it was time to line up at the start line. This race isn't chipped timed so Jenny and I decided to get pretty close to the front without getting run over. They played music to get us all pumped up! I will admit that I was dancing and having a blast and the race hadn't even started yet lol!

A race start selfie is a must!!!

And then....we were off! Jenny and I had plans to just have fun for this one. We weren't planning on a PR especially since the weather wasn't very cooperative. But being the competitive runners that we are....we both were running pretty fast. In fact...we started out faster than we should have. The first mile flew by. And then we headed into one of the neighborhoods. I love looking at all the houses. But the roads here are not in great shape. We had to really watch where we were stepping. I almost twisted my ankle a few times.

Finally we were out of the neighborhood and turned onto Dauphin Street where we would run until we reached the finish line. I'm not gonna lie. This run was tough. My legs felt great but I was having a hard time breathing. The heat and humidity were making it really difficult.

Looking at my Garmin I knew I wouldn't PR. But there was a chance for Jenny to PR. We were almost at the finish line and I wanted to yell at her to "Go!" but I couldn't! I couldn't get my breath enough to talk! Luckily she went took off and went for it! I was a few paces behind her and then out of the corner of my eye I saw someone creeping up on me. We will call him "Red Shirt" since he was wearing a red shirt. I thought to myself, "Oh no! You are NOT getting between me and my Jennyfren!" And I sprinted the hardest I think I've ever sprinted!

Thanks to Jenny's husband Eric for these pictures! You can see Red Shirt trying to pass me...and me determined not to let him!

And I'm happy to say...Red Shirt did NOT pass me!!!! :-)

But sprinting at the end in that heat and humidity was rough! It took me a while to catch my breath. I was about one minute shy of my 10K PR. Not too bad in such weather conditions! I found out later that my official time was 52:34!

Once we caught our breath Jenny and I celebrated our run!

I just happened to look up and guess who I saw? My cousin James!!! I had no idea he was running this race! He had run the 5K and placed 1st in his age group!!!!

While we were waiting on the official results for the 10K we chased down the Chick Fil A Cow AND the man with boxes and boxes of pumpkin shaped Reese's peanut butter cups!!!

But my happiness subsided a bit when I discovered that one of those Reese's was 170 calories! Wow! I gave it away instead. It wasn't worth it. I wanted to eat real food with all those calories I had just burned running!

Jenny and I had a few more photo opps! I love the candid ones of us where we are asking each other....how do you want to pose? Funny or normal? Lol!

Finally the 10K results were posted! And I had placed 2nd in my age group!!!!! I was shocked!!! This was a fairly big race and I couldn't believe I had placed!!!!

We waited for awards of course! And I got to cheer for James as he got his 1st place award!

It was a tough race but so much fun! And I'm so glad I got to see my cousin at the end! I loved sharing our wins together!

As always...it was a blast running with Jenny!!! I can't wait to race together again...which will be THIS weekend for the Battleship 12K!!!! :-)

QOTD: Have you ever run hard in tough weather conditions and surprised yourself with what your body could do?

Senior Bowl Charity Run 10K Recap!

Saturday was not only my birthday but it was also the Senior Bowl Charity Run 10K race! This would be my 3rd time running this race. It was my first 10K ever in 2010. And I ran it again last year with a knee injury.

I was hoping for a great race this year....even though my calf has been really tight and hurting since I ran my sub 2 half marathon two weeks ago. I had no doubts that I would run an official 10K race PR (my previous PR was 59:42) but I also wanted to beat my training run 10K PR which was 57:40. I was hoping the calf would cooperate and allow me to achieve this goal.

I woke up to freezing weather!!! The temperature was in the low 40s but the real feel temp was in the low 30s. And there was a wind advisory in effect! The wind was blowing from the north and it was soooo cold!!!

We made it to the race about an hour before it was supposed to start. You know how usually there are tons of people mingling by the start line before a race? Well...it was a ghost town! We wondered where all the runners were! I knew they were inside somewhere trying to stay warm. You can see the bare street and the start line sign blowing in the wind in the picture below.

We were freezing just standing around! I saw a hotel across the street so we headed towards it seeking some warmth. I just prayed that the doors were unlocked! Luckily they were! It felt so good to be out of the cold and wind!

Since this race was for the Senior Bowl (a football game for college seniors that is played in Mobile in January) we all dressed in our favorite team colors (Go Auburn)! Of course some of us had our team colors covered up with warm clothes lol!

We stayed in the hotel until we had about 15 minutes before start time. Then we slowly made our way back outside. It was just so brutally cold out there! We took a really quick picture in front of the start line.

Then we headed to the middle of the pack in the starting area. We saw our other Sole2Soul Sisters and headed towards them. They were so sweet! They sang happy birthday to me while we were waiting for the race to start! Made me so happy!

Finally the gun sounded and we began to run! I was so happy to have Andria there to run with me! This route is gorgeous as it takes you through downtown and under the canopy of oak trees. I would have taken a picture but my hands were freezing inside my gloves and I wasn't taking those gloves off for anything!

The first 2 miles were pretty miserable. I felt frozen. My feet were so cold and numb. And so were my legs. The good thing...because it was so cold I couldn't feel the sore calf lol!

Andria and I barely talked during this run. I think we were just so cold.

Finally, around mile 3, I started warming up. The top part of me even starting getting hot. I think I started to pick up my pace here because Andria was running a little behind me.

Around mile 4.5 I ran into my friend Melissa. It was so good seeing her and talking to her! But then she waved me on since she knew I was after that PR.

From that point on I was focused. I just kept putting one foot in front of the other. I wasn't real sure about my time. I just kept running.

Finally I saw the finish line in front of me! I sprinted! I had done it! I had a new PR!!!

This race is not timed with a timing chip so I had to pull the tag off the bottom of my race bib and hand it to a volunteer. I wasn't sure what my official time would be but my Garmin time said I had run it in 54:29! That was a 2 minute PR!

As soon as I crossed the finish line I saw Billy and Gary...Paige's finance and Donna's husband. A few seconds later here came Andria! She PRed too!!! I was so proud of her!!!

We waited around the finish line for all our friends to come in and then we headed to the food area lol! They had so many options...hot dogs, jambalaya, red beans and rice, and chicken fingers! I gobbled up some yummy chicken fingers...they were so good!

Andria and I headed to look at the official results. This was a pretty big race so I knew I wouldn't place but it's still fun to look at the stats. They had my official time as 53:57. I wasn't sure how they were that far off from my Garmin.

Now that all the results are in I looked the results back up online and here are my stats:

Time: 54:42
Place: 13 out of 51 in my age group

Not too shabby! ;-)

Even though I felt like I was in the Frozen movie....this race was a blast! I'll definitely do it again next year!

QOTD: When a race isn't chip timed...do you go by your Garmin or the race results?

Senior Bowl Charity Run 10K Recap!

It's been 3 years since I've run this great local race! This was my very first 10K when I ran it last AND it was the weekend before my first half marathon! Memories!

So I was super excited to run this one this year! And I was also super happy that Dr. Justin told me to run it despite the hip and knee injuries. I knew that I was going to take it easy and just try to enjoy running.

I met all of my running friends around 6:30 and we carpooled to the race. We got there in plenty of time for porta potty stops and to take a few pictures.

Me and Paige!

Jackie, me, and Paige! And Kay thought it would be funny to photobomb our picture lol!

Finally it was time to line up at the start line. This race isn't real big so there aren't any corrals. You just get wherever you want. I placed myself in about the middle because I thought that would be where my pace would fit in.

We had a ton of Sole2Soul Sisters running this race! I'm so blessed to have so many running friends!

Right before the race started I saw my friend Melanie from A Family on the Run! We started the race together and ran about the first 3 miles together! It was fun catching up and running with her!

They had a huge American flag strung from two firetrucks at the start line. It was really awesome!

After the star spangled banner it was time to start!

I was so ready to run...but I just couldn't find my groove. The first 3 miles were torture. But the scenery and route was beautiful! I love running in downtown Mobile with the trees hanging over the road. It's so pretty!

Around mile 3 I finally got into a little groove. But then the knee started hurting some. It would get really tight feeling and I would have to stop and stretch it. Then I would continue running for a bit until it tightened up again and then I'd stop and stretch it again. I did this the rest of the race. Luckily the stretching only took a second or two and then I'd run again. But I still hated having to stop. During one of my stretch sessions I snapped another picture of the beautiful trees.

I really was enjoying the run. But I was super mad and annoyed at the knee. I was also worried. I didn't want it to get worse.

The finish line was finally in sight. I was sad the run was over...but knew my knee needed it to be over. I finished with a Garmin time of 1:07:44. My official time was 1:07:55...this race doesn't have a race chip so it wasn't as accurate as I would have liked. I guess it took me 11 seconds to hand them the bottom part of my bib lol!

I was glad to have finished the race! But I was really sad that my knee was hurting. It hurt to walk. And that hurt my confidence.

The rest of the day the knee hurt when I walked. And of course that made me pretty depressed feeling. But luckily when I woke up the next day it didn't hurt much at all.

I saw Dr. Justin yesterday and he said my IT Band was feeling much looser and better. But the part of my knee that had hurt during the race was super tight. He worked on it and hopefully it will be a lot better.

Despite my injuries this race was a lot of fun! I definitely want to do it again next year! The route is gorgeous and flat. And the after party was pretty fun too if I hadn't been in pain. They had inflatables for the kids so my boys would have loved it!

QOTD: Do you have a race that you run every year?