Spa City 10K Race Prep

"Running! If there's any activity happier, more exhilarating, more nourishing to the imagination, I can't think of what it might be. In running the mind flees with the body, the mysterious efflorescence of language seems to pulse in the brain, in rhythm with our feet and the swinging of our arms."

— Joyce Carol Oates
 
Carb loading?
Check. Okay just kidding. I'm not really carb loading for a 10K.
 
Fresh songs on the Pebble?
Check. Specifically Your Love Is My Drug (Keisha) and Can't Stop (RHCP)
 
Camelbak?
No. I'm leaving it behind. The weather is cool (unlike the 102 degree 5K I ran this summer with only one water stop where I really needed it) and I should be fine.
 
Clothes?
Check. I'm thinking my Running Chics hoodie and my skirt. This could change depending on weather. I'll take a few things with me.
 
Manicure?
Check. What? Sorry I just painted my nails and they go fabulously with my Ghost 3s.
 
Hill Training?
Check. Thankfully I live in a very hilly and mountainous part of Arkansas. Hills are always apart of my runs. I'm going to need it. Check out this race description.
 
The race starts at the Hot Springs Convention Center and travels west into the downtown area. Runners then turn onto historic Central Ave with the Hot Springs National Park Bathhouse row on one side of the street and the shops of downtown Hot Springs on the other. After passing the first mile marker, the course turns left at the Arlington Hotel to head onto Whittington Ave. The route then heads west along Whittington around a small park and passes the two mile marker.


The race turns back east on Whittington on the other side of the park and continues ahead for 1/2 mile. These first 2.5 miles have been a long uphill section, so gradual that many runners think the race has thus far been flat. The climb is no longer deceiving as the runners now turn right to face a monster climb up West Mountain in Hot Springs National Park. After a tough 1/2 mile hill, runners pass the 3 mile and 5K markers and are rewarded with a flat and slightly downhill section. Inexperienced Spa 10K runners will speed down this section thinking the hard part is over.

The course punishes novice runners with another monster uphill section, hidden from view by the course curves, which lasts over 1/3 of a mile and takes the race past the 4 mile marker. The fifth mile is the course's true reward for those who run smart in the first four miles. Runners can fly down the back of West Mountain, out of the park and onto Quapaw Ave to the 5th mile marker. The sixth mile is not as dramatic, but also features a nice downhill section from Quapaw to Market Street, then back to Convention Blvd to pass the 6th mile marker. Only a short, gradual downhill remains before finally crossing the finish line.


 
 
Back tomorrow with race results.