Race Report, Alert 10K

During my most recent purge, I donated some old race t-shirts to Goodwill. I know there are groups that will make quilts out of old ones, but we really don't need one, and we live in small enough quarters as it is.

What I did do is take pictures of the shirts I gave away. My plan is to tell you about the races they represent, and where I was as a runner at that point in time. 

First one:

The radio station I worked at publicized the race,
and I wrote the ad that we played. The back of this light-brown shirt
 has a scripture verse and a list of sponsors.

This shirt is the first of three I earned from the Alert 10K Road Race, hosted by the Alert Covenant Church (with help from the Manhattan Track Club) near my old stomping grounds of Clay Center, Kansas. Alert is a small community between Green and Randolph, and the church that hosted it is on the aptly-named Green-Randolph road. I believe proceeds go toward their youth programs. 

It was fun because Joe Moore attended this church, and he was a standout track and cross country guy for nearby Clay Center Community High School and later at Kansas State. Joe would run this race every year and bring along some of his KSU running buddies and put up race times in the mid-30s. Yikes. 

The race was very close to home, so I rolled out of bed, had a bagel and maybe a sports drink, and drove the seven or so miles to the event. I ran this race in 2003, and I was not really a racer at this point in my life, plus this may have been my second race ever. Six miles still seemed a little daunting, and I knew nothing about pacing or upping tempo or anything. I was more concerned about finishing with my legs still attached.. 

Following a brief prayer, the race was run along the Green-Randolph road in front of the church, and then turned onto the dirt/gravel roads behind the church. The late-April weather was a little cool but still very pleasant, so it was a great day for a run.

I do not remember any hills as I have come to know them-- this course was mostly flat with one sort of incline around mile 5. If I had known any better, I could have run well and put up a good time. Instead, I was happy for a time of 58+, which was an improvement over my first 10K (1:02:10). 

This was the fifth edition of the race, so the support was excellent. I would go inside the parish hall and get some of the excellent church food (casserole, anyone? yum!), and enjoy the morning with friends who also came out. The kids had a one-mile race (thus increasing the chances they would go home tired), and we would go out to support them. 

The best I ever did, age-group wise, was maybe sixth a few years later, so there were no Shiny Metal Objects for me this day. Definitely a good race-- they held the 15th annual event this past April, so it's still going strong.