A Great Day in Chapel Hill ~

Last Saturday, a big group from the RMEC ran the Tarheel 10- Miler. 

What a great race!  It was close enough to home, yet far enough away (with an early enough start) that Jon and I made an over-night trip of it.  We drove to Chapel Hill Friday night and picked up our race numbers.  Then back to Durham to check into our hotel and we had a great dinner at the Rockfish Seafood Grill.  We got into Chapel Hill at 6:30 the next morning and parked by the Dean Smith Center, only to find we had nearly a mile walk to the race start.

I came prepared with my knee brace on, and had decided not to worry about time, to just run a nice, easy, comfortable pace and have a good time!  Not being familiar with Chapel Hill, I didn't know what to expect of the route.  It was very scenic, running through several really nice neighborhoods with some of the most beautiful landscaping I've ever seen.  Oh, but there were plenty of hills, too!  There were 2 - 3 hills I decided to walk up.  The race never became boring and the miles passed quickly.  The most challenging part was the 9th mile...  again through a beautiful neighborhood, and it was nearly all up hill.  I'd walk a while, then run a little bit, then walk more of it, then run a little more.  I probably killed my time thru here, but it's what I was comfortable with at that moment. 

Once you came out of that section, you headed back towards (and past) the race start and on to Keenan Stadium.  This was a really neat finishing experience.  You turned and ran thru a tunnel and popped out onto the football field, ran the outer perimeter and finished on the other side.  I'd been trailing one girl in a pair of green shorts for some time.  We'd traded places a couple of times early on, and she had eventually passed me and stayed ahead.  I'd been getting closer and closer to her, and on the home stretch I kicked it up a notch and blew past her.  Yes!  Nothing wrong with a little friendly competition, even if the other person doesn't know about it.  Haha.

The finish area was a bit confusing...  there was a timing clock, then an archway, then a volunteer scanning your timing device, which was a huge thing you wore behind your bib number.  I didn't care for these.  Michael Forrester says there was also a mat, which I never did see.  The medals were pretty cool, being in the shape of the race logo, with the number 10.  I found out later that the 4- mile racers also got the "10" medal, which I think is pretty crappy.  It should have been different from what the 10- milers got.

Other than these few little gripes, it was overall a great race.  I would definitely do it again!  About all of the RMEC folks got a PR that day.  Like myself, the only 10- mile race most folks had done in the past was Medoc.  My finishing time was 1:41:03 and Jon had a blazing time of 1:31:17.  This is a fantastic 9:08 pace.  It's the farthest he's ever run at that fast of a pace.  Great job, Jon...  I see a 2 hr. half marathon in your future!  :o)