Week 3 - A Long Ride and The Franklin Classic

Yesterday kicked off week 3 of The Plan. I am still not sure if I am going to Memphis, Vegas, or Huntsville but I am still training.

Week 3 – Day 1 Cross Training
I met Lana, Tracy, Gary, and Amy at the Rec Center. Amy had just gotten her brand new Trek 1600 and was taking it out for its first spin. 15 miles was her longest ride to date and we took her out to Normandy. She did GREAT. It is a 20 mile loop with 2 really good size hills. We met Leslie on our way back to the Rec Center where we filled up our water bottles, chatted, and then headed back out on the Star route. Leslie broke off and headed home at Wayside, and then Gary and Tracy took 53 to Riddle so it was just me and Lana for the Cracker Barrel Hill! It surprised me how much easier it was this time. We rode a total of 35 miles.

While riding, Leslie mentioned the Franklin Classic and Lana and I told her we were going. She decided to come too.

Week 3 - Tempo
Leslie, Lana and I met this morning at 5:10 to head up to Franklin. Lana and I got signed up for the 10K and Leslie signed up for both the 5k and the 10k. Since Leslie had to start at 7:00 and Lana and I had until 7:30, Lana and I took all of our stuff back to Lana car while Leslie went off to start her first race. Once Lana and I got everything dropped off and made use of a port-a-potty, we headed back to the square. David had emailed me that he would be on the square wearing a sleeveless red shirt and that his bib number was 308. Lana and I saw a guy in a sleeveless red shirt but we could only see the last number on his bib. It was an 8. We walked toward him and I called out “David…David” The woman standing next to him started shaking her head. OOPS he was number 508. We looked around some more but I told Lana I was NOT walking up to any more strangers.
We saw Leslie cross the finish line. She did great but I don’t remember her time. She had to go straight over and line up for the 10k. We headed over to the 10k start too. We ended up standing next to the guy that was NOT David. He probably thinks I am some kind of weird stalker.
The gun fired and we were off. We weren’t far into the run when we spotted a guy in a sleeveless red shirt that I heard another runner call David. Lana and I caught up with him and sure enough this time it was David. We chatted for a while then we got a little ahead of him. Lana got even father ahead. I saw the Goodlettsville guy. As I caught up with him I said “Not you again. I don’t want to have to look at your back this whole race too.” I got ahead of him and then David was back. We ended up running and chatting the rest of the race. At a turn around, I saw Leslie. She had already run a 5k and was now ahead of me in the 10k. She is awesome. Before I knew it, the finish line was in sight. I crossed the finish line just a step or two behind David with an unofficial time of 52:01. I am still hoping that I am a few seconds off and that I managed to break 52 minutes.
I saw Leslie and Lana who had both finished ahead of me. Then I saw the Goodlettsville guy, I had finally beaten him. Turns out his name is Chuck. He asked me if I did Triathlons. I said yes. He said that I have biker’s legs. Don’t know if that is a good thing or a bad thing. He said he will be at Music City on the 17th too. Great another chance to chase him!!!
All and all it was a great race and I really like the 10k distance. Not only was this my first 10K it was also my first RBF meet up. Thanks David for running with me and for the heads up on the course. We will have to meet up at the next race too. I Run for the Party???