Tiger 10 Miler - 10 miles of heat, humidity and hills

I recently got myself into a little more than I bargained for.  You may know that I've walked a few half-marathons.  In case you're wondering, that's 13.1 miles.  All of those were road races. Paved paths or city streets.  Usually a combination of both.  Smooth surfaces.

A couple of months ago, my friends, Connie and Carol, and I decided we needed to do something different.  Well, we heard about the Tiger 10 Miler.  This is a local race, so only about a 20 to 25 minute drive away.  Great!  It's a trail race in a beautiful forest preserve.  Yes, we know that trail races could be nearly any type of surface.  Grass, dirt, gravel....a few tree roots.  Hey, that sounded like fun!  And we can do 10 miles.  Heck, we've done 13.1, so 10 miles will be fine.  Right?

I prepared.  I trained.  I bought a water-pack (a small backpack specifically designed to hold 50 ounces of water). I knew from past experience that I had to avoid getting dehydrated.  This race did not provide cups of water along the route (a cupless race).  They, instead, provided fill stations for us to refill our own containers/packs.

It began as a beautiful day, as you can see below in this pic I took pre-race.

I have to admit that I was a little apprehensive about the rough terrain because, due to an old knee injury, uneven surfaces can result in a sore right knee.  Nothing to really worry about though.

To get to the point of this entire post...this was a tough race for me. THE most difficult race I've ever done. PERIOD.  Heat. Humidity. Hills. And there was that 750 foot elevation gain, too.  I would say that about 75% of the race was out in the open, on grassy paths through prairie land. In the sun.

Hot. Humid. Ten miles. Just a few shaded, forested areas. All of the course was beautiful and yet, grueling.  I signed up for this.  Paid for it, too.  What was I thinking?

By about half way through the race, I was praying to just finish.  Just, please, get me safely to the finish line.  Truly, it took every ounce of strength I had, to get there.  I was drained.

ME!

This was quite an experience.  I'm glad that I did it, but I don't plan on signing up for this one next year.  Ummm.  No.
My finish time was much better than I expected.  I was surprised!
And, second place in my age/gender group was an even bigger surprise.

By the way, there were only 2 of us women in this category (65 years to 69 years, female).  But I'm still very happy about this finish!  Hey only 2 of us "older" women even attempted this course.  Go us!

You just never know what you can do, if you don't try.  And, these experiences make for great memories with wonderful friends!