Every 4th of July since I can remember my family and I have competed in the Spreckles 10k. Spreckles is a small town just south of Salinas which was know for its sugar factory, Spreckles Sugar, which is no longer.
As usual, mom, dad, Kathrine Hambly and myself rode over from Seaside which was about 17 miles. Not too far, just a nice warm up. We arrived in plenty of time to get into run gear and have a nice warm up. Jay and Sprocket drove over and while Sprock stayed in the car, Jay decided to do the race this year.
One thing to expect at this race is a very unorganized start. By that I mean, the athlete's are standing around talking at the start line with no countdown as to when the race will actually start, when all of a sudden the horn blows and the athlete's abruptly stop their conversation, press the start button on their watches and frantically begin. Every year it's the same...no warning. Makes for a fun start nonetheless!
I was running at about 7th place for the first mile or so when for some reason instead of taking a right hand turn the front pack kept going straight. I said something to Kody about course change and that I thought we went right, so we had to double back about 10 feet which allowed those behind us to catch up. Big mistake. I've been doing this race since I was probably 10 or younger and I should have known better...it also could have been my chance to get a really good lead. I was out in first overall including the men for about 25 yards until the men finally cought up again!! The course if flat through some of the agricultural fields, windy and a small part on dirt roads. A fun course and a good one to get a PR.
Kody and I ran together and kept each other going. We actually caught a few more men towards the end of the run and with about 1/2 mile to go, Kody pulled away and was able to finish a couple seconds in front of me. I felt good, but I did work hard and wanted to finish in 35 minutes. I didn't get that time this year around as I haven't been working too much on speed work but more on my long endurance for my upcoming Ironman in Lake Placid toward the end of this month. My overall time for Spreckles though was a respectable 36:26 and good enough for 8th overall and 1st female overall!
What's fun about this race too is that everybody get produce...fruit and vegetables to take home as one of the sponsors is a produce company. We had a good time and after the awards ceremony we got back on our bikes and rode home! We made it home just in time to watch Le Tour de France!!
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