Race Report: 2010 Mebane on the Move 5K

George and Bert

This morning I did the Mebane on the Move 5K in Mebane, NC. George and I got there about 7 AM, and soon saw our friend Bert from the Raleigh Galloway Training Group. Bert was running his first 10K, and George was shooting for a 10K PR this morning. It was a slightly cool, overcast morning, pretty darn perfect race weather.

The three of us were busy chatting through the race announcements, so we were surprised to see the runners surging forward! I also missed the fact that there wasn't a timing mat at the front. I wish I'd scoped this out ahead of time, as I would've positioned myself a little better.

The running crowd thinned out pretty quickly, but Bert and I were run/walking in the same area for quite a while. I was a little tense in the first mile, but started to relax at the beginning of Mile 2. Unfortunately, my right toes started hurting so after, around my Garmin's 1.1 mile mark. I started taking walk breaks more frequently in hopes that it would help, but the pain was persistant throughout the rest of the race. Needless to say, I'm pretty discouraged by this!

Highlights of the race were seeing a college classmate volunteering on the course, a finished runner in a polka dotted headband hopping out of the crowd to run the last part of the race with me--just for encouragement, and then doing the same for our friend Bert (along with George).

Afterward, George, Bert, and I drove to Panera Bread in Durham and enjoyed a post-race meal. Their Greek salad is my usual post-Saturday-run meal, and it (and the company) lifted my spirits a bit.

I am surprised that my toes continue to give me this much pain, in what seems like shorter and shorter distances. I iced and ibuprofened both last night and this morning before the race, and even soaked my feet in epsom saltwater last night. I may have to wait until I can get the custom orthotics before seeing some improvement.

I'm still waiting on the official (gun only) time, but my Garmin (started at the start line, not when the runners started) says 49:48 for 3:12 miles.

1) 15:58
2) 16:03
3) 16:13
.12) 1:33

I would definitely recommend this race, especially if you like small local races. Mebane is a cute little town, really, and the volunteers were very friendly and helpful.  (The course had a number of turns through neighborhoods, but there were plenty of course monitors to keep me going in the right  direction.) The race director was very gracious is changing my registration from the 10K to the 5K earlier this week, which turned out to be a lifesaver for me today.

UPDATE: Apparently there WAS start line timing, just didn't see it. Results are in: chip time was 49:45, gun time was 50:30. I finished 156th out of 160 runners overall, and 17/17 in the women's 40-49 age group.