Finishing the Gateway to the Delta Ten Miler

Forrest and I were on the road by 5:45. It was cold and since the heater was not working in my truck, the trip to Batesville was like going across country in a covered wagon. But we did it and parked the cold truck and went inside a building for packet pickup. There we stood around and absorbed some of the heat. My feet were numb, and I knew I could not stand around outside.

We thought Katie Jones would come in and we could ask her to let us warm in her truck, but we waited and waited and finally I sent her a text. She was already warming and I told her our story and she let us get in the truck with her. Thank you Jesus.

The race nice. I like that one. BK told me that it is also one of her favorites. Basically, it is delta flat for 3.5 miles, hilly for 4.1 miles, and flat again for a few miles at the end. My goal was to shuffle a sub 11:00 minute per mile pace. I was on track for a bit. Starting too fast, I purposefully slowed and help a 10:45 for a while. When we started going up, however, so did the numbers on my watch.

At 4.05 I hit 11:00 even. Slowly the pace kept changing. I went from Hoping for a sub 11:00 to shooting for an 11:30. Then I was trying to hold on for a sub 12:00 which I did get. I finished, according to my watch with an 11:44. My official time was at an 11:50 pace and fourth out of three in my age group. You don't believe it? Here is the proof.

That's talent right there. And hard work. I have been training really hard for a long time and it paid off with a new low.

Forrest ran well, and it looks like I have passed the torch to him. BK also ran well finishing in a really quick 1:30 for second in her age group. Here is our mandatory selfie at the start.

So what is my assessment of the whole thing? It was a good workout for me. I ran ten miles at a pace I can never hold alone. Later in the day I watched Mississippi State's great comeback against Auburn. Then I went to Plate City and did some needed leg work. I did cut the volume a little since I had already run ten miles. In short, it was a good experience. I'm glad we went, and I hope we go again.