I finished this year's Dam to Dam Run 10K in 1:10:12, which gives me a pace of 11:18/mile. My goal had been 11:00/mile, which would have had me finishing in 1:08:12, so I missed my goal by 2 minutes. While I'm a little bummed, I did take over 3 minutes off last year's time of 1:13:27, and a change to the course replaced a flat portion with an uphill/downhill portion, which increased the difficultly a bit. At the start, I got caught up in a pack of runners that were faster than my usual pace, but because the area across the dam was so narrow, I couldn't find a spot to drop to the side and drop back to let them get ahead. By the time I did, about 3/4-mile in, I knew I had set myself up for a tough rest of the race. Last year, I didn't walk a single time; this year, I had several short walk-breaks to help a muscle stop hurting, or to try to get circulation back into my feet. (Yes, I loosed my shoe laces; no, it didn't help.) Around the last mile, I also got a headache, which made pushing on tough, especially uphill. Interestingly enough, though, once I got back to the first dam, I was able to find a nice pace that helped me finish strong.

I had planned to listen to All Praise on our local Family Life Radio station as I ran; however, when I turned on my music player, the only button that would respond was “play,” which meant I had to listen to whatever was next. It was good music, but it wasn't what I was going for. I think a new music player may be in the cards for me. This isn't the first time this one has behaved oddly.

This year's run was once again sponsored by Great Harvest Bread and Starbucks, so I enjoyed a slice of sourdough bread and a cup of coffee at the end of the race. You wouldn't think that coffee is good after running, but it is. :) At least I think it is! I did start with water. Keva Juice didn't sponsor this year's race, and I also didn't see any mention of Brent's Place, the home for children with cancer that was the beneficiary of last year's Dam to Dam Run. I asked, and it turns out they had a race in Denver back in July that was actually named after them. It's good to know they're still raising money to support their work. This year's Dam to Dam Run supported the iRunFit program, an after-school youth running program.

The t-shirts were black this year! To the right is the front of the t-shirt, and my bib number, 809.