Bay-Waveland Beach 10 Miler 2015

Needed a tough training session leading up to the Seaside Half Marathon next weekend. Signed up for the Bay-Waveland Beach 10 Miler. Along with about 155 friends of mine! Camaraderie, oddly non-cold temps, and a 20 mile per hour head wind. What more does a man need? Oh yeah, we'd run in on a concrete seawall. And there would only be a couple of rest stops. So if we could survive this bad boy, we could survive anything. And since there are few OFFICIAL ten mile races here in the Great State of Mississippi, it was an opportunity for the fast people (which excludes Your Humble Narrator) to get onto the record books if they had a good showing. (Spoiler: many people did!)

Unfortunately, mostly due to my poor planning, things did not go too well for me. Failed to hydrate the night before. Failed get my apparel correct. Did not wrap my right pinky toe correctly. And wore thick socks. As a result of those mistakes and the effort of running into the wind, the five mile midway point during this race felt like the 10 miles point last month in New Orleans. Then my thoughts wandered too far DURING the race and forgot to fuel properly until my tank was already down to fumes. And finally, my right toe abraded so badly that every step after mile six rubbed it raw. Contemplated walking the last three miles. But didn't. Changed my gait into more of a shuffle and managed to finish with a pace faster than this time last year.

Still managed to get into third place on the podium. (My buddy Jack placed first and now owns the fastest 10 mile  race for our age!) A bit awkward to admit, but at forty something, it was the first trophy of my life. Despite the pain and discomfort, finally getting a trophy of my own turned it into a Very Good Day. And overall, my bad personal performance made 55th out of 155 people. Almost the top third. With better planning, that would have been top 25%. But, live and learn. Won't take so many things for granted, next time.

Afterwards, a bunch of folks met at Shaggy's in The Pass. Drinks and food and comparing notes and talking about plans and remembering previous adventures.Typical stuff among the local fitness folks. Good times with good people. What more does a man need?