Gateway to the Delta 10 Miler

Forrest and I traveled to Batesville Second Saturday morning to do the Gateway to the Delta 10 Miler. We did it in 2016 and my memories of it were favorable. It is a nice course with some pancake flat sections and a few hills thrown. It would make a good training run, give us a chance to spend some time together, and they give you a hoodie instead of a T-shirt. What's not to like?

We left town about 6:00 a.m. with the temperature registering around 30 degrees Farenheit. In Batesville, it was even colder. We got there, parked, and made our way to the big tent that was set up in a parking lot in downtown for packet pickup. There was a long line, and we realized that we were going to be pressed to make it to the starting line on time. We finally finished that, put our stuff in the truck, and jumped into the bathroom line.

Inside the tent for packet pick up.

The bathroom was one of those mobile things. There was a women's, a men's, and a wheel chair accessible. The women had theirs, the women had the wheel chair one, and the women made up most of the line in ours. I said out loud, "This is just like home."

A woman went in ahead of me. When someone came out, I presumed it was the woman who went in so I went in. The usurper woman was still in there and she insisted I leave. I should have told her to stuff it, but I am too nice for that. I left, but I was not happy about it. What happened to equal rights? Isn't two bathrooms to one equal? I mean equal for the women? I guess not. 

To make a short story long, when I got out, I had to start running towards the starting line. The man shouting on the megaphone said the wheelchair participant would go one minute before the other ten milers. I had to tie my shoes and stopped to do that. Then he said we would go thirty seconds after the wheel chair man, which he promptly sent off on his race. That meant I had less than thirty seconds to fix my shoes and cover the fifty yards to the starting line. 

So I lost a little time at the start, but we got going. I had hoped to run about an 11:00 minute pace. That would be a good workout, ten miles a couple of minutes per mile faster than my training pace. Forrest and I started together. We did the first mile in 10:41. Then he stopped for a walk. I wanted to stay with him, but I kept going.

Notice the sign on the door.

I was pretty steady. Mile two I did in 10:22, mile three in 10:27, and I lapped my watch at the mile four marker, but it was short by .12 so I don't know the exact split for that mile. By now we were climbing hills and one old man and I were taking turns passing each other. He ran funny. He leaned way back and his belly was in front of the brim of his cap. I kid you not. He looked like if he met a gust of headwind he would fall backwards. He ran and walked and I got weary passing and being passed my him. 

The miles kept clicking by, and I was holding pretty steady. Mile  six was slow, 11:25, but we got some downhills in the seventh mile, and I hit 10:17 for it. I finished in 1:47:31 for an average pace of 10:39. That is about what I hoped to do. Essentially, that was an almost two hour tempo run. That should tune me up a bit. 

Forrest, who has had little time for training, came in a while later. He didn't look like he enjoyed it too much. But I enjoyed the ride over and back with him. I always do.

The best part of the day: hanging out with me son.