Middlesex Community College 11th Annual $cholarship Road Race

Somehow I let my friend talk me into running a 10K this past weekend. I figured that even though I've been running only once a week (at best) it would be fine. I managed to run 6.2 a few weekends ago, with lots of walking, and it worked out great! So why not? I knew since I wasn't fit there was no pressure for setting a new PR. No pressure at all, other than to enjoy the day and make sure I cross that finish line! Seemed like a great idea! Plus there was a large group of us (all horse people too as it turns out).
So we arrive there early to register and of course get a pre-race photo:

I was running amongst a group of actual committed runners. Or at least committed to this race. They hadn't forgotten about it like I had. (Oops.) That's ok though, as I said, nothing to prove! My friend and I had also scoped out previous results. Only 23 people had run the 10K last year. VERY little pressure!
We figured out pretty quickly why so few people run this race. It's basically mislabeled as a road race. What it really is paved mountain climbing. Seriously. About a quarter mile in, we climbed our first mountain. I ran half of it, walked the rest. Then we had some downhill. That was lovely! And then it was mountain after mountain after mountain! With very little downhill... how does that even happen? What goes up, must come down... right?! Well yes. And down it went! All at once! Another turtle paced runner  walker commented it might be faster to tuck and roll at this spot. She had a valid point. But we trotted on. It went up again, but not as much thankfully. The best part? We got to finish downhill so I could pretend like I was running all strong at the end. Also great? Everyone from my group had long since finished and were all there to cheer me in! Yay for support at the end!
This was literally the hardest race I've run. And not just because I'm not fit. The rest of the group all agreed. It was torture! I'm pretty sure none of us will be back. But you know what? I'm still glad I did it! I wasn't fast:

But considering how much walking I did, I'm not disappointed with that time.
I think my group was happy to have completed it as well. Everyone placed in the top three in their age group! (except me, I was 5th. Potentially out of five... I'll have to look that up!)

Did you run a race this weekend? Was it mountainous? Run happy friends!