Fallen, Never Forgotten 10K Race Report

Me rockin' the Eagle #TeamRWB

Well I finally found out where I placed in this race now that the race results are posted now!  But this was the first edition of the "Fallen, Never Forgotten" Race at Fort Hood, and overall, the folks who put it on did a pretty good job!  It featured a 10K and 5K (competitive, chip-timed race) as well as a 3K and 1 mile fun runs/walks for anyone, and for $15 bucks, you can't beat that!  So with that, on to the race report!

I ended up toeing the line with 165 others in the 10K wave (5K was about 5 minutes behind us), and I wanted to make sure I didn't go out too hard, like a lot of folks did, I lined up in the "2nd" row or so of folks.  We had a countdown and the Corps Command Sergeant Major fired off the starter's pistol and we were off.  It seemed that everyone thought this was a sprint and not a 6.2 mile run, but after about 800 meters I was about 20th or so, but I was running my pace, my race!  I cruised thru the first mile at 6:24, a bit fast, but I was riding the wave!

The second mile I settled in and started to pick off folks who were fizzling out and felt good.  I arrived at the first water point to find... it was unmanned!  What the fudge!  Water was there, cups in the wrappers, but no one pouring.  Hmmm hope this was a one time thing.  At least it wasn't hot out, just the first 3 miles were into the wind.  Which I drafted (ran behind someone taller than me, which wasn't hard) and let them work a bit harder in the wind.

After just before the three mile mark, we turned south and got out of the wind for a bit, and I passed two more guys.  By then, the leaders were WAY long gone, so I just worked my pace and kept plugging away.  I managed to get caught by one of the guys who I passed and didn't repass him for another mile or so, but after that, I had one other guy up ahead to get after.

I kept putting in mini-surges but couldn't get up to the last guy as I ran out of race to catch him, missing him by about 15 seconds.  Ended up with a nice 42:25 and 8th overall (2nd in AG), and not too bad for my first 10K in a long time.

But in the end, all the other water points were "Self serve", so if they can fix that for next year, that'd be great!  I think it is a great race to do, on the 10K you pass all the memorials on post, but I didn't really stop and reflect at them, and the bibs were neat as well, you could right who you were running for, so I put in three guys I was running for; MAJ Doug "Mosey" Sloan, MAJ Chris Galloway, and SFC(R) Kevin "Diesel" Brynn, three friends I've had throughout my career.  I thought that was a nice touch for the race.

Well, I'll let this RR fire off into the ocean of the 'nets, so until next time!