10K Race Recap - A Cautionary Tale About the Dangers of Peer Pressure

So....at the beginning of February, Angel signed up for a 10k race. That's a very normal thing for him to do. He was talking about how this race, because it was small, offered very good odds of winning lucky draw prizes, because there were a lot of prizes and participation in the race was capped at 200 participants.

Somehow, the allure of the possibility of winning a prize started to draw more and more people into signing up...first Rebekah...then MaryGrace...two of our friends...and finally, Dad signed up. It helped that the race was raising money for a charity that we thought was a pretty great cause. In the end, I signed up, too, mainly on the reasoning that if I was going to be there anyways, and everybody else was in the race, I might as well be doing it too, with the rest of them.

I'm telling you, this all happened because of peer pressure. Beware! It only took one Angel getting all excited about his upcoming race to somehow convince six of us to sign up to run it together with him.

It was the very first 10k for all six of us.

And none of us are runners, least of all me. I reasoned that to myself, I wouldn't call it a 10k race, I'd call it a "6 mile hike". Because I can do a six mile hike. No problem.

Which brings us up to race morning. At 6:10 a.m., we left the house, all six of us non-runners wondering "Why did we sign up for this?"

Most of us didn't really have appropriate race gear. I wore one of Angel's race shirts, too-big khaki shorts, and my circa-2010 Adidas tennis shoes. ;)

We were a bit giddy during the pre-race briefing...that explains Dad's photobomb, I guess. The sun was rising and it was almost time to start! Angel kept saying during the weeks before the race that he was intending to win 1st place and get the trophy. Now that it was race day...we'd have to see what would happen. The rest of us just had goals to finish before the 2 hr. cut off time. I planned to walk the whole race.

Because I don't run. I do six mile hikes.

The whole crew waiting at the back of the starting line! There were actually two races going on, one was an obstacle race, and none of us were doing the obstacle 10k, so we were all in the second heat to leave the starting line.

Mp3 player is his running must-have. Plus Asics Gel Kayanos and the "perfect" running shirt and shorts. Do you know how many hours I've sat on benches waiting in sportswear stores...

The race was 4 laps, with about a 3rd of each lap being along the seaside. I could not stop myself from smiling the whole time I was walking along the path by the sea. It's just beautiful--God's awesome creation. I love oceans and ships and being near the sea.

During-race selfie. Obviously, I was enjoying myself and my six mile hike quite a bit. And not taking it very seriously, either. Just walking along, watching the sun rise over the water...it was glorious. I wasn't in last place, either.

I saw Angel a lot during the race, due to the 4 laps, he lapped me multiple times and was at the finish line by the time I finished my 2nd lap. (hahahaha!). I ran to him and asked, "Did you place?" He said he got first place, and I cheered and kissed him. As I started running away for my 3rd lap, I asked, "What time did you get?"

He said, "Somewhere around 45."

I yelled back, "Wow! That's slow!" and bystanders started cracking up.

Granted...that was probably a strange conversation to overhear with no context...but considering that his last 10k was 40 min. on hills and this was a perfectly flat trail, I knew that was slow. After the race, Angel said that once he knew he was in front of everybody, he went into 'cruise mode' and didn't push to go faster. Obviously he's a 'compete against others' type, not a 'compete against yourself' type. Update: official time was 44 min. Still rather slow, given that his PR is 34 min (back when he was a younger man...).

Sarah and Mom were at the finish line cheering us on at every lap. Sarah made a "Go ANGEL!" sign which she held up every time he passed. When asked why she didn't make signs for any of the rest of us, she said, "Because Angel's the only one of you who's taking the race seriously."

She has a point.

When Dad came around for his final lap, Angel took off to run part of that lap with him (why? Why run again after winning the race?), and then went to a shop to buy drinks for all of us.

Of our crew, Dad finished next, followed by Rebekah, and then one of our friends who was running with us.

After that, I came in, welcomed by my cheering family and a bottle of 100Plus. Mom said, "Leave it to you to finish a 10k looking just like you did when you got started."

My patented strategy is just taking it easy. Six mile hike. I finished in about one hour and 40 minutes. hahaha! Not a bad hiking pace.

MaryGrace finished next, which meant that all of us made the 2 hour cut-off and got our medals! We had to stick around for the prize giving ceremony to see Angel win 1st place...besides, the most exciting part was the lucky draw...we hoped some of us would win prizes!

Probably the funniest part of the prize giving ceremony was when the emcee said, "I hope I get this name right...the winner of the men's 10k is....Angle!"

All of us in the crowd yelled, "Angel!!!!!" The real pronunciation.

And the emcee said when he went up to get his trophy, "You're too hairy to be an Angel."

???

Hilarious.

And then it was time for the lucky draw. What was really funny, and awesome, was that all seven of us won some sort of lucky draw prize! Angel won a jar of fancy cashew butter. MaryGrace won a voucher for a meal at a nice restaurant. Our friends won vouchers for a photoshoot. Dad and I both won 3 free exercise classes (we laughed so much because that was the prize we really DIDN'T want to win...another reason to exercise!). Rebekah got what was the most impressive prize in our group, a set of nice Sony headphones.

And then, in ironic tradition, we all grabbed breakfast at McD's before heading home, slightly sore and sleepy after our big morning. I remain staunch in my anti-McD's campain, but I had a Coke slushie, because even they can't ruin a Coke slushie. Plus...I was a bit thirsty after my hike.

Honestly, it was a really fun morning. Something about completing the race all together with our family--both literal family and friends-turned-family--made the whole morning really fun. I loved being outdoors and enjoying the long walk and the sunrise. The race organizers were all very cheerful and excited, and since our bibs had our names on them, were calling us by name, which was fun, but also confusing, because I would keep wondering, "How do you know me?" until I remembered the bib. Again and again.

Here's a short video of our race adventures! Footage taken while I'm in motion may not be the steadiest footage ever. Just warning you. It's still smoother than if Angel were on camera duty... :) You will get to hear Angel called "Angle" in real life.


I really enjoyed my first 10k, even though I signed up purely due to peer pressure. I'm not sure if I'll do it again at all, mostly because it probably doesn't make sense to sign up for races when you're really more of a hiking type...but it was honestly a really fun morning.

Have you ever or would you ever do a 10k? Or have you ever won one? I might have said, "Wow that's slow!" but I'm pretty proud of my 1st place winner!

Linking to What's New With You