Hershey 10K

Hershey 10K

My ratings

Shirt - Yellow. I didn't like the color. Good fabric.

Bib- It was so awesome to have my named printed on the bib!!

goodies - there was a coupon in my bag for 6 free cookies, I love Hershey Sugar cookies! and am very excited about it. There was a coupon for $2 off Spring Time in Hershey. and $12 off regular admission.

Portable toilets- a good amount of them! and mostly clean!

Parking - Free Parking at Hershey Park lot.

Water stops- 2. First for water, second Gatorade and water.

size of the run - Website says 3,000.

 

I had a great run on Saturday; it felt easy at the time, only felt like stopping a couple of times, which seems to be normal.

It was windy, and cold. The sun was coming out, but still windy. In my mind, I had expected it would be sunny and a warm 55 degrees, but half of the spring in Pennsylvania is still cold; and we ended up with a windy 45 sunny day. I had planned to wear a long sleeve shirt, with a short sleeve shirt on top, but changed my mind after the 5K last week and getting really hot half way through, but changed my mind and wore a different shirt. This moment makes me think of the opera singer from Scrubs that shows up an sings "MISTAKE!" when JD makes a bad decision, I could have used that guy Saturday Morning.

I wanted to leave at 6:00, but took a few minutes longer getting out of bed. We left at 6:15 and stopped at Dunking for my pre-race meal, of a bagel and coffee. Then as I got on the highway I realized I left my sunglasses behind! No!! No time to go back and no extra sunglasses in my car, not a single pair! but off I went to the run!

We got there and my anxiety was getting the best of me, I thought I would be the last one there, still needed to put on my number, stretch, drink water and eat my strawberries!! Of course, I was not the last one there, many people were getting there and we still had plenty of time.

The wind really started hitting me getting of the car and started walking to Hershey Stadium. I wore a running tank top, with a pink  polyester shirt, a tissue long sleeve shirt, Capri leggings, long pink socks, my Nike sneakers and my New Balance jacket. The plan was to warm up before the run and not carry the jacket, but the wind was cold, so the jacket was coming, even if I had to drop it off along the road.

We walked around and stretched, run some and kept moving around. It's funny that the first time I did a run, I refused to use the portable toilet, and now I go in them with no issues or argument, only hoping that it's still early in the run that not many have used it. So in this Hershey 10K gets extra point, for the large amount of Portable toilets!

The run started at 7:30, they did the national anthem, or I think it was the national anthem... could barely hear it. Between the nerves and the excitement, it was almost unnoticeable. The run started and I didn't hear a gun go off, a timer or anything to indicate it was starting. I realized it as everybody started to walk though the starting line and saw the chip readers on the floor. The amount of people was amazing, the colors everybody was wearing created a beautiful rainbow of bright colors. My emotions were running high.



The run was a little hilly, not surprise there. I trained knowing that Hershey Park has very steep hills inside, and thinking we would be running through them. We ran against the wind for the first 2 miles. It felt good. I saw people stopping, people speed walking, people taking selfies on the first .25 mile. I also saw a couple of girls wearing gray tutus, they were supposed to be Hershey Kisses.

I started passing people, thinking of keeping my pace slow, so I wouldn't get tired too quickly. The very first marker I saw was for 2K, roughly 1.2 miles. By this point I was getting warm and my jacket started to feel really heavy. I pushed it to my shoulders, but that only  made it heavier. We ran on the road for about 1.5 miles and got our first water break at 2.5 miles. It bothers me a lot that some runners just flat out stop at the water stations, we need some type of signal... a signal that says "I'm stopping completely! " so that those of us who don't wish to stop don't run into others.

At this point my jacket felt like it weight 15 pounds on my arms, I wasn't ready to give it up, so tied it on my waist that worked for about 5 minutes, when it slid off me and tripped me. At this point, I was done with the jacket. Made my peace with leaving it behind and not seeing it ever again... and on the back of my mind hoping that somebody would pick it up and bring it to lost and found. I dropped off the jacket by a stop sign on the side of the road, the feeling of relief immediately made me feel lighter!

At this point I had ran past the 6K sing, and somewhere, I saw we were 4 miles something in. We were running into Hershey Park now, the part I had been waiting for all the run! I have been to Hershey park a lot of times, and know the park and know the paths very well. My fear was that we would be running the hills by the Trailblazer area, my plan had been to slow down and take the highs easy, but to my surprise we didn't go through there, that area was blocked off. We went by the boardwalk and around to Zoo America entrance, then around to the new rollercoaster and out of the park to the Stadium.

I was done! I felt so happy, I cried! because I didn't stop once, and had completed the race under 1 hour! I wasn't sobbing, but tears didn't stop for a few minutes. 56.19!

The run was good, my body felt good, my legs felt good and I was very happy!

I got my medal, which was awesome! my refreshment bag, water and the wrapping blanket, as the wind was blowing strong at me.

Then we went to breakfast at Sofia's for a well deserved Sofia's special's Breakfast! which I devoured!

Crazy thoughts I had during the 10K
* I want to get a tattoo
* I should buy a really cool pair of sunglasses
* why didn't I drink more water?
* I can't buy this things, I don't have money!
* I should really invest on a nice quick dry long sleeve running shirt
* again with the buying
* I wonder if my boy is still sleeping
* I really should get a tattoo
* STOP THINKING ABOUT TATTOOS
* This is for Ninfita, my beautiful abuelita. Get better soon Ninfita!! please!!
* I should have worn a headband
* I can't believe I didn't bring my sunglasses

Songs on my playlist during the run (the ones I remember)
Ingrata- Café Tacuba
Jefe de Jefes - Tigres del Norte
Get Free- The Hives
Mister Cellophane - John C Reilly- Chicago Soundtrack
Fighter- Christina Aguilera
Lejos de La Tristeza- Enrique Bunbury
Mi Gente- Kumbia Kings
Iberia Sumergida- Enrique Bunbury
Indian Moonshine- zumba
Jai Ho- Slumdog millionare soundtrack
Mirate- La Ley
El Amor El Amor- Zumba