The Crooksville Pottery Festival 10K Race was on a hot, muggy Saturday morning in early August. It was the kind of day where you could see the humidity. I left Athens in my Fiat X1/9 a little later that I had intended but still enough time to get there.  I was zooming up Route 13 when I came to a Road Detour sign.  Uh oh!  Now, depending on how long the detour was, it was going to cut it a little close to get there on time.  As it got closer to 8am I was really zooming.  I arrived about 2 minutes from the starting gun.  I jumped out of the car, got my number, and hopped in line.  That was pretty much my warm-up, as a few seconds later the gun sounded. 

It was around 80 degrees at the start with the humidity feeling at about the same number. As I approached the one mile mark I felt like I was on a pretty good pace because my body felt like it had been pushing it.  But then, an “uh oh”.  I was a good 45 seconds slower than what it felt like.  Usually, I could guess pretty close as to what my splits were.  Not today. 

The race was a combination 10K and 5K.  As I approached where the 10K runners and 5K runners split, I considered just doing the 5K.  But no, I decided to continue on.  It was a struggle the whole way.  Pretty much the whole race was in the sun.

I always try to finish with a kick.  Sometimes, I can start with a mile left.  Other times, a quarter mile.  This day was in the quarter mile category.  It was a long straightaway to the finish line.  A hundred yards or so ahead of me was another runner.  As I usually did, I focused on trying to reel in that runner.  It was a motivational mind game.  And, as usual, I figured I could die after I crossed the finish line.  So I did pass that runner at the finish.  That was the only fun part of that race.