Crim 10 Mile Race Report

Today I ran the Crim 10 Mile Race in Flint, MI. This is a big race, with 10,000 runners and walkers.

Flint is about an hour from where I live, so David and I decided to stay at a hotel last night so we wouldn't have to get up obnoxiously early. Last night was excellent. We checked into the hotel around 5:30 or so, then walked a mile to the expo to pick up my packet. There were Special Olympics races taking place downtown, which was very cool. Then we went out for dinner (flatbread pizza - yum!) and then headed back to the hotel to relax.

I slept like crap, as I so often do the night before a race. I woke up approximately one million times. When it was finally time to get up for real, I ate my traditional pre-race oatmeal and then David and I headed over to the local YMCA where we were meeting up in the parking lot with the YPOM running club. Our new club singlets arrived yesterday, just in time for the 40 or so club members who were running the Crim to look mighty stylin' on the race course. YPOM is a force to be reckoned with! :)

I was really nervous about this race. It's notoriously hilly, though some club members told me the Solstice Run 10 miler that I ran earlier this year was hillier. After completing the Crim today, I respectfully disagree. I found the Crim to have more challenging hills and my performance was certainly a lot slower than the Solstice.

I don't remember a lot of specifics about what happened during the race. It was full sun today - not a cloud in the sky - and felt quite hot on the course, so I appreciated all the spectators who set up misting hoses and sprinklers in front of their homes. It was nice to get some relief, because the course didn't have a whole lot of shady areas. There were a lot of cute dogs on the sidelines, but I managed to refrain from stopping to pet any of them. I was sorely tempted, though! Love those dogs!

The Crim has been in existence for a long time. Runners who have done it for 30 years or more get a special shirt. During the race I came across a man who was running his 33rd Crim. That's so impressive and I hope I can have that much running longevity. It's a well-organized race and they have water stops at every mile because historically it's ridiculously humid, though it wasn't too humid this year.

I had a fairly bad attitude during my run so I admit that I kind of gave up in the last few miles when I realized that I wasn't going to hit my time goal. I'm so disappointed in myself. All I keep thinking about is those damn marathons and how I don't enjoy marathon training. Still haven't made any final decisions. I want to get back to enjoying running more and feeling less like it's an endless slog of misery.

Next week is the 30K so I will get through that and then reassess my racing future!