Charlotte Trip / 10k Race Recap

Good Morning and happy Monday to everyone!  I hope you all had a great weekend.  I had an awesome time with Charbelle!  Our time together went too fast, of course.  This is a 2-part post.  I know race recaps are boring for non-runners so feel free the skip over the content after the asterisks if you have no interest in the race...  I partly do the recaps for myself as a way to track my running progress!

Anyways, as I said, I had a wonderful time in Charlotte.  I had such a good time, I did not take a single photo...  I know, I know.  I need to work on this...  Sometimes it's hard to interrupt a fun time by saying, 'hey, let's take a picture'!  Here is a bullet-point recap of both the biz & fun parts of the trip:

• Longest Day Ever.  I flew out at 7:30 on Thursday which meant getting up at 4 am, and I got back to my room around 10:30 pm.  This was one of the longest days I have had in a very, very long time.  I arrived around 11:30, went to the office, worked until 6 and then went out with co-workers.  No, this was not optional, it is part of my job to socialize and meet people and get them to like me.  It was pretty much me and 8 traders.  I learned a lesson this evening - it's  probably not a good idea to let a group of men who drink somewhat regularly order you a drink.  Turns out the drink they ordered me was straight vodka but I could not tell because it was pineapple infused so it honestly tasted like juice.  I had already had some cocktails at this point, so having this drink was not the best idea...  Live and learn.  I paid for this on Friday morning.... 
• Smile, smile, smile.  I did a whole lot of meeting and greeting.  I am going to estimate that I met about 50-60 people.  The goal of this trip was to meet as many people as possible as putting a face with a name goes a long way in our business.  I consider it a success.  I am glad I went on this trip, but for reasons I won't get into at this point, I would never want to move there.  It's good to find that out, though!
• Race!  See below - Charbelle and I ran a really strong race (as did her friend that ran it with us).
• Shop 'til you Drop Charbelle took me to a great outlet mall on Saturday where I got some great deals on work clothes and also picked up lots of things for my new niece!
• Girl Time Charbelle and I spent a lot of time in the car throughout the weekend, which means we had lots of quality time and great discussions.  From being single in your 20s to career stuff to marriage to learning how to say no and not feel guilty, we covered it all! 

It was a whirlwind 4 day trip, but I am so glad it worked out spend the weekend so I could pack some fun in with the business commitments!

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Race Recap:

The temps were unseasonably cool on Saturday morning, which was a bit of a relief for me.  I was sort of expecting to run in hot/humid/thick air, but that so was not the case.  It was in the 50s and I definitely had goose bumps as we waited at the starting line.  I had talked race strategy with my running coach and he told me to just have fun and to not push it too much as he didn't want me to run a poor race and have that mess with my mind for my Victoria race.  So I decided to take his advice and just went out and had fun.

Here is how the miles broke down:

Mile 1 - 9:11
Mile 2 - 9:03
Mile 3 - 9:01
Mile 4 - 9:14 ( I believe there was a decent hill during the mile)
Mile 5 - 9:15
Mile 6 - 9:02
.3 miles - 2:33 (9:08 pace)

The course measured .1 miles long according to my garmin.  My official finish time was 57:22, so I ran it at a 9:09 pace based on a 6.3 mile distance.  This pace felt "comfortable" the whole race.  I didn't feel like I was working very hard, and I definitely could have pushed the pace if I had wanted to, but it wasn't the day for that.  Between getting very little sleep and having a fairly stressful/intense couple of days in Charlotte, I needed a fun, easy going run. 

I ran almost the whole race with Charbelle and felt good when I crossed the finish line.  It was a great way to see the city of Charlotte!

What did you do this weekend?  Since my week/weekend were so busy, this is a 'mark all as read' kind of day for me...  So please catch me up on anything that happened in your life last week!