ATC Cartersville 10K

(October 4th, 2008) Today my mom and I made the trip to Cartersville to run the ATC 10K on a very scenic course. Rhian didn't make the trip since she was still tired from traveling earlier in the week and wanted the rest. The weather was very nice, low 60's with low humidity. Last year's run was very humid with temperatures in the mid 70's. We saw the usually suspects that we see at every ATC race along with someone we hadn't seen in a long while, my dad's old friend Kermit Bowen. When we reached the starting area, my mom saw someone on the track warming up that resembled Kermit and pointed him out to me. I said it's got to be him, because he's wearing an old ATC Master's warm-up like the one dad wore when he competed. As the start approached we found out it was Kermit! He said he was trying to get back in shape and had lost about 30 lbs that he had gained. He was looking for someone to pace him, and I told him that I was planning on running between an 8:45 and 9:00 minute/mile pace, and he said that would be good. We both started out together and I let him control the pace, since I didn't want to go too fast and maybe push Kermit too hard. We reached the first mile in 7:56! I thought this was too fast for me since I was planning on finishing the race around 55 minutes. Kermit was upset because he felt this was too fast for him. I felt great and only slowed down a bit, Kermit slowed a little more. I was able to maintain a pace between 8:20 and 8:30 the rest of the way. Once I reached 4 miles, I still felt great, and knew I had a shot at breaking 52 minutes, which was now my new goal. The race finishes up with 1 1/2 laps around a track. Once I reached the track, I really began to push, and finished up in 51:41! This was about 5 minutes faster than my previous Over-40 10K time. Kermit would end up finishing in 53 minutes. My mom would come in at a time my dad would be pleased with, 1:17.

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