Run to Feed the Hungry 10k (Race Report)

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Ours was pretty low-key, but great nonetheless. We kicked off the day with a little exercise at the annual Run to Feed the Hungry. It's become somewhat of a tradition for my dad and I to run this race Thanksgiving morning. In 2009 we started out with the 5k, last year we stepped it up and did the 10k, and this year we returned for the 10k again.

Despite my hopes for clear weather I awoke to a gloomy and rainy morning. The race was going on rain or shine so we joined the throngs of 27,000 (!!!) other runners at the crowded start near Sac State and waited for the start. We were already pretty wet by the time the gun went off, but luckily it wasn't a cold rain. By the way, sorry for the blurry photos - I had my phone in a ziploc bag to keep it dry!

The first couple miles involved a lot of dodging and weaving through the crowds, but eventually we settled into an easy rhythm. We weren't really racing for time (it's almost impossible with so many people), so we just kept the pace comfortable. About halfway in my dad's calf started acting up. He injured it about a week ago and has been having issues with it ever since. It felt better to keep moving, so we did.

We made the turn around just past McKinley Park and headed back into East Sac. Despite the rain, the fall colors were out in full force and appeared even more vibrant against the dreary gray sky. The rain showed no signs of letting up but by that time were soaked and used to it. With just a couple miles to go my dad really started struggling. His calf was cramping badly and forcing him to slow a bit. Looking back at our splits, we surprisingly stayed very consistent and it wasn't til the final mile that we really slowed down.

 love!

We finally made the turn onto the home stretch down 'H' Street, merging with the throngs of 5kers that had started a half hour after us. There was no final sprint across the finish line, but we crossed together in 1:00:36. As we anticipated, as soon as we stopped running his calf seized up so we tried to keep moving. It also got pretty chilly once we stopped moving, and being soaked did not help. We walked about a half mile back onto the Sac State campus where we my brother was waiting to give us a ride home.

done!

 

The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing and eating, the perfect ingredients for a good Thanksgiving, if you ask me! I helped my mom with some of the cooking, and I even ventured into the realm of baking with homemade cheddar sage biscuits! I am much more of a cook than a baker - baking is just far too scientific and easy to screw up - but these were actually really easy and turned out great! I will definitely be making them again. It ended up being a wonderful day, full of family and food. There really is something special about the holiday season, so glad it's finally here!

 fresh out of the oven!

How was your Thanksgiving?