MAC 10K series final

Well today was the final race in the MAC 10K series.  Your top 3 of 4 races are used for scoring.  There aren't enough participants to give out awards in multiple categories so they adjust each runners time based on age and gender and we all compete in one pool.  It pays to be an old lady.

So...I woke up extremely sore this morning (boot camp on Thursday was not the best idea).  It was 34 and very windy at the start.  Fortunately we didn't get much rain so the course was pretty decent...not to much mud and no ice.  I wore tights, shorts, two shirts, a headband over my ears, my running cap and my new gloves.  One small glitch that I'll mention later but overall worked very well.

Started very conservatively...I was the last 10K runner to cross the 1 mile mark.  I realized later that most of the slower runners had switched to the 5K because of the weather. These events are very small and we all know each other well.  I passed 3 runners in the next 3 miles and was surprised at the pace I was able to maintain as my legs were screaming at me.   Kirsten was right on my heels as I turned the corner at the top of the killer hill...and then a huge gust of wind blew my hat off...  Kirsten tried to catch it, missed, and slowed to pick it up when I told her to go ahead and ran back and got it.  Never was able to pass her after that.  Final time was 58:25 which was better than my time in October on essentially the same course.  I was pretty happy with the effort.  It was a great training run!!  

Series awards were given out after the awards for this race had been distributed.  Last year I was 3rd in the series and I didn't expect to place this year.  Mark, age 50, who is going to Boston this year won the series which was pretty much expected.  I was stunned when I realized I'd placed 2nd.  3rd place went to Tia who beats me every race but is only in her 30's.  It pays to be an old lady.  We got a couple gift certificates and they are embroidering some (3 of a kind) dri fit hoodies for us.

It's been a tough year in a lot of ways so I was pretty pleased to finish the year with a decent race and the realization that it wasn't such a bad year after all.

Nicely done! Doing a series like that sounds like an awful lot of fun. And to come in second? Even better!

Congrats! I like the idea of age grading, especially since I'm on the other side of the hill!

Congrats, Nancy!  And yes it does pay to be an old lady once in awhile - probably why i won the Grandmasters last week.  As for the hat blowing off, that is why I had my DD hat over my running cap at NYC.

Awesome job!

Thanks Mark, Dot, Michele and Jim.

The series is really fun and the age/gender grading works really well. Our local community runs are way to small to give out age group awards (the only exception is the July 4th run). The series gets people committed to coming and the age/gender grading give us mid-pack runners a chance. We're slowly building more interest and the half this Saturday is generating quite a bit of excitement. Hope our weather cooperates...