Racoon Mountain 10K--Chattanooga, TN

This past Saturday I, along with my wife, her sister and her sister's husband ran in the Raccoon Mountain 5K/10K in Chattanooga, TN. We woke up at 4 a.m. in Knoxville and drove the 1.45 hrs to Chattanooga in order to make it to the race that started at 7:30 a.m. Waking up at 4 a.m. is early, and not exactly "my idea of a good time" in case anyone was wondering how that was.

I figured that since I was up 3.5 hrs before the race, I would have enough time to take care of my bathroom issues before the race. I chugged an iced tea at about 4:30 am to 'get the bowels moving', so I wouldn't have any issues during the race and I could focus on running....and it WORKED!! The strange thing was that the bathroom line for the dudes was a lot longer and slower moving before the race than the Women's bathroom line was. About 75% of the guys in line were going #2 also, and there was only one toilet in this park's bathroom. So, you were putting on a show in a way for the guys in line, who also had to do what you were doing. It was a little weird.

The race went really well. This was my first 10K, and I really liked it. I really liked this distance, and there was one massive hill. I mean massive (I should have known, since it was at Raccoon MOUNTAIN.....) I felt a little bad at the end of the race because I had been running with this guy "Robert" and we were chatting during the race and he noticed that the 2,3, and 4 mile markers were off. He had a Garmin watch and I didn't have any watch/timing device and Robert would let me know the times as we passed the mile markers. He was my 'race friend', until after the mile 5 marker when I LEFT HIM IN THE DUST AND SMOKED HIM!!!!!!! I thought about it for a second, like 'should I stay with him and finish the race together, or pick it up and hope he comes along...' I picked it up, and he didn't. Sorry, Robert.

Thanks to Robert (and his Garmin) I kept an 8:00/mile pace from miles 1-5, then the last 1.2 miles I finished in 8:26, giving me a 48:26 final time, and again THIRD place in my age group! I am 2 for 2 in getting prizes at races!



As wonderfully modeled by my wife and her sister above, the shirts were cotton tank tops. By far, the worst shirt I've ever received at a race. I will never wear this, not even to paint.



We ran around this reservoir for most of the race. It was an awesome course. Thanks to Sonya for taking these pictures!