Los Altos 10K Torture Report

Two weeks ago I did the Los Altos 10K with some friends and to remind you how easy it was, here is the elevation. Look at the third big peak and the point on top of that sucker, there were literally signs twice on the course, one for an uphill part and one for that downhill, warning you of steep terrain. It would have been great entertainment to put a chair at the bottom of that and watch us all billy goat our way down it because it sure wasn't running. I saw one guy at the end of the race with bloody knees and I'm guessing that was where he got his battle wound.

And thanks to Ed Harman who got these pics on our last stretch that happened to be uphill, I'll never forget how easy it was.

This fine man needs to be remembered for the closing segment. Ed didn't know how happy he made me when I discovered he actually had a picture of this man. Read on.
The rest of these pics were taken by Ed and Meghan, thanks guys!

Here is a pic of the starting line, I'm in the far right corner in pink. This wasn't a chip race, so I wanted to be in front.
Thanks to the super dads who watched my little gems while I ran. Josh was out of town so I was very grateful for them watching my kids. There was a horse stable there so they had fun looking at them and splashing in mud puddles.

This is Ben starting out the race. Remember this happy face. (sorry for the blue and lines, can't get rid of it.)

This is Maren, who looks too beautiful to be starting out a race.
This is Maren's hubby, I believe the first to finish the 5K race. This is the trail, I didn't realize it was really a "trail" run, I just heard my friends talk about a Saturday 10K so I did it, but it was my first trail run and it got pretty rugged in some parts. This is the final stretch and the smoother part of the trail.

Based on the sequence of pics, looks like Pat, Lindsay's hubby was next and this was his first race I believe. Congrats!
Meghan and Jen did the 5K too, I think this was Meghan's first running-only race (she's done a triathalon) and she looks like a model in a fitness ad, she looks gorgeous, her hair looks all pretty and windswept, hardly fair.

But you'll find that most of my friends have no trouble pulling off beauty when working out. Here is Jen after running and she looks great and energetic--and this was her first race ever.

And then you have me. I have to at least try to give excuses so I'll start with this being the 10K race. Right, 3.1 miles shouldn't make that big of a difference, but considering the course, it felt like I was doing a marathon. Actually it didn't really in the way of running, this felt more urgent, my adrenaline was all messed up and I had a side cramp the first 2.5 miles that convinced me to run like an idiot with my arms above my head. But I did have to give myself a little talking to during the race about how I shouldn't be such a baby, I'd run hard hills in Boston and those came from miles 16-20.

It didn't work so great and I finally resorted to walking up part of the last stretch of hills. They honestly looked like mountains to me that day at some points, but maybe that's just the Houstonite in me where a speed bump looks like a hill.

I saw Ed holding the camera and thinking to myself, "smile Afton, you can smile right?"
And this is as close as I could get.
What you can't see here, or else I probably wouldn't point it out to you, is that I wet my pants during the race. Hazel loves that I did it, she thinks it's just great that mommy has accidents too sometimes and talks about it so often you'd think I have one every day. Thankfully, it's not an every day occurrence, so don't excited about sharing stories about your chronic road-wetting friend, it's only happened twice, and both during races.

I could either A: stop running and go in the bushes or B: hope my dark wick-away shorts will do their job and wick it away before the end of the race! I was really hoping for a better time and didn't want to give up my spot, but that proved worthless. Should've stopped.
Here is Ben at the end of the race. Too bad I couldn't relish in the fact that I beat him since something was clearly wrong with him and not just the hills. Despite his happy above picture, he was apparently very sick but decided to do the race anyway since his wife Whitney was also doing it. I guess I can still enjoy beating him since it will never happen again if it's on healthy terms (he's normally a speed demon).

Poor guy, only one or two of our group members actually recognized him crossing the finish line, and I thought I felt bad.

Here's Lindsey looking quite energetic as well. I need what she took.

Doesn't she look great? Her hubby is Ed, the one who snapped all these.

Here is Whitney, a little running machine. She's who I run with on Saturday's.
You can see from these pics how tough she is!
And also how cute she is after running. I immediately bee-lined for the porta potty, hence no pics of me afterwards.

Here are Lindsay and Maren yet again, looking fabulous--broken record yet? I run with Lindsay on Saturday's too.

This was Lindsay's first race, and I say kudos to anyone who ran this, but esp for their first race!

I was aiming to finish in 54 min because if it was the same group of runners as last year, I could pull in at 2nd or 3rd place for women. Unfortunately, I came in at 55min 32sec and that put me at 8th or 9th place for women overall (would've missed placing last year too, would've been 4th). I say 8th because on race day I was 8th, so I'm not sure why there is another woman in there online now. I'll get her next year.

And Whitney got third place for her age group! Congrats Whitney! I've been meaning to tell you over and over but want to wait until I have your medal to give you and I just always forget. I brought it to Bunco so we could officially award you, but I forgot, so congrats! I'll get you your medal.

Here is the results page for the 10K.

Here are 6 of the 8 girls that I knew running it. Jen, Meghan, me, Lindsey, Lindsay and Maren. It was so fun to have a group running it, I love having friends with similar crazy interests.

And now the moment you've been waiting for. This man came up to me two different times after the race and I was loading up on loot--which there was a ton of and it reminded me why I do these great events--fresh and heavenly blueberry muffin things with a crumbly top (can you tell I want one right now?), that FIZZ (?) pop/fruit drink, lentil cereal, which I understand Lindsay wasn't a fan of, but I would so love to get some, chips, fruits, bars, water bottle, etc.

Back to my new friend. He was with some of his friends and were asking if I went the whole way with my double stroller and I joked with them for a few seconds and moved on and then he came up and talked to me again and I moved on. Then I had the girls loaded up and we were on our way back to our car and he goes, "You're not staying to pick up your trophy?" "I wish..." and kept going and then he started talking to me about running and how often I run and where I run and how he placed third in his age group, which he acknowledged was a big deal at his age (and I think he said 4th place overall? If so, he's 47, but he looks older to me).

I give my congrats and think how he was an awfully nice man, but not sure if that was all. I start to push and then he quickly points to my empty ring finger and goes, "I see you're not wearing a wedding ring, are you married?" "Oh yeah, I just don't wear it when I run, it gets gummy..." At that point I felt awkward and embarrassed for him because he immediately looked uncomfortable and muttered, "oh..." I congratulated him again and went on my way wondering if that had really just happened.

I realized that despite my amazing post race looks, I'm sure I reeked of urine and looked like a single mom of two little girls, read, desperate. He probably saw our common interest in running and maybe he was just looking for a running partner...

I found this all very entertaining and a bit shocking since I don't get that question every day. I'm glad he gave me a good memory and I'll see him next year if I decide to run since he told me he does it every year. And I know where he trains if I want to look him up. But really, can you blame the guy? At least Josh agrees:).

And here is the group with kids and hubbies.