10K Results...

We did the race yesterday. About two hours before the race there were some scary clouds looming over the course. Thunder could be heard rolling around up there but we figured it would be much better with rain than sun so we didn't complain. I dropped Julian off at Janet's because a 10k is still too far for him. It's even too far for me!!! So I picked up Jaime at school and Nick Martin, Jaime's running partner, decided to come too. We brought him home to get changed and then headed over to the registration area. We got our numbers and found that there was going to be quite the crowd running. People from 8 and up. I'm not sure of the oldest but I saw people in their 60's. So we talked a bit with one of the island favorites, James Weekes. He was guaging his competition and pointed out a couple of men that he was watching. I was watching a couple of 12 year olds that would be my competition! The race began with the pack taking off like they were running with the bulls. I held back as is my way and got into my pace. I ended up passing a big group that charged off at the start. It makes me feel better to start off slow and increase a bit and pass people. Mentally it works better for me. I would still finish about the same either way but it's nice to think I'm beating someone. Haha. Anyway, so the race went on. They had water stations every 2 miles or so and they gave out full 12oz bottles of water which was great. I was drinking a little and dumping the rest over me. It made for very soggy shoes but helped with the heat because the sun actually came back out and immediately heated things up. Each kilometer was marked on the road too so it was easy to keep track of your progress. I seemed to be running a bit slower than usual but I just wanted to finish. At one point around the half way point I could see a girl in bare feet in front of me and I was trying to reach her so I could pass her. I would be damned if I would let someone withouth shoes beat me in a 10K. I got up close and there was a big crowd cheering her on. I tried to pass her and she started sprinting. Then I felt bad because these people were obviously her friends and family and I couldn't pass her in front of them! So I waited and after we got around the bend she started walking to catch her breath and I finally passed her. There were a lot of spectators on the side of the road due to the holiday. So, after about an hour I came closer to the finish line and sprinted the last 1/2 K and finished in 1 hour and 3 minutes. Jaime and Nick had finished around 47 and 46 minutes and Nick seemed to think that we would all place in our age groups. They were in the lower bracket which was age 20-35 though which is a tough group. We hung around for a while and talked to some people we know. We also met a couple who was here in their honeymoon and the husband decided to do the race. I thought that was pretty funny. They were nice people from Atlanta, GA. They had been staying at the Four Seasons so you know he'll be getting a nice massage today. We only had 20.00EC to get us back home but we were all in need of some sugar in our system so the only thing we could find was some Coke. My legs were cramping up so I had to walk around and stretch quite a bit and after drinking that Coke I felt a lot better. Coke...the miracle drink! The guy who sold it to us was really funny. He was marketing his "store" which is in the bed of his truck on the side of the road. He is always there. Pretty funny. We decided to catch a ride back up to our car and bring it back into town for the awards ceremony that Nick was so sure we would be a part of. We flagged down an old man in a taxi car and Nick asked him if 10.00EC would be enough to bring a few weary runners back to the airport. At first he said no but Nick assured him that it was all the money we had and if we had more we would surely give it to him. He finally gave in. As soon as we got in some young kid in a car came whipping around by the pier and passed him. F'ing A'holes he said. I started laughing, it was going to be an entertaining ride. So we talked about the drivers here and then asked what the police do here if they are never chasing down speeding cars. He said F'ing off like it was a matter of fact. He is a man who lived 35 years off island in Ottawa and New Jersey and upstate New York and so he has seen the world. He was talking about the drivers in Nevis and how he would like to put them on the GW bridge and give them a map and see if they could get through the city. He said they wouldn't be able to do it the stupid sh*ts. It was funny. At least once in every few sentences there was some colorful language. I was laughing so hard and trying to be quiet in the back seat so I could remember the stuff that he said. It was nice to hear that he felt that Nevis was not reaching it's potential and he fully supports developing more of the island. OH...haha...he also was talking about how there are Jamaican ho's and ho's from trinidad, and ho's from other places here and he had never seen that before he moved away. He was just going on and on. Our hats go off to Jordan for giving us an entertaining bargain ride back to our car. We got the car and headed back down to town. We hung around until about 7:00 when they did the awards. There were over 100 runners in this race which is very impressive for an island this small. The second award they gave out was the 35 and older category. They quickly announced the names and I thought I heard Morneo but wasn't sure so I was looking around and then they clearly announced again "looking for Danielle Moreno" and I couldn't believe it. They had an award box and everything for me to stand on. They gave me my 3rd place trophy and shook my hand. He wouldn't let go and he said "the press wants to get your photo". So I looked over and they took my picture. I might be in the newspaper! Wow, isn't that exciting. It was really funny. Nick and Jaime think that the times in their age group are messed up because they really think that they should have placed. I told Nick not to feel bad, that I would let him borrow my trophy so he could put it on display in his house. Haha. So that's my story. And I must say...don't I look sexy in my photo!