Toughest 10K Kemah – Race Report

This race is part of a 3-race series called "The Bridge Series". The 10k is called "The Toughest", because you are required to run over the Kemah bridge not once, not twice, but FOUR times. Yeah, I don't know what I was thinking either!


This is the Kemah bridge!  Ack!!!  (source)

One of the Hub's co-workers, who is also a friend and neighbor, was also registered for the race and offered to drive us all. The race is about an hour away from our house, so we decided to leave around 5:30 am. There had been lots of e-mails from the race director about arriving early to find a parking space, so we wanted to give ourselves ample time. Turns out that we had no issues parking and had plenty of time to hang out before the race. As always, I had to visit the porta-potties – luckily, the porta potties were plentiful and the lines moved quickly. By the time I was done, my friend (who we will call M) had arrived.

Me and the Hubs waiting for the race to start

A little background info…
M is the crazy woman who got me started in this running nonsense to begin with. When we met back in 2000, she was training for the Houston Marathon (her 1st). I was the annoying non-runner who asked all those dumb questions - "How far is the Houston Marathon?" and "How far is the marathon in Boston?". To be honest, I had no idea Houston even had a marathon. And, I thought M was crazy for wanting to run that far…God knows, I had absolutely no desire to run a marathon. My, how things change!

So anyway, we chatted for a bit and made our way to the starting line. The Hubs and his friend made their way closer to the front. M and I knew our place in the pecking order – toward the back! M has taken a hiatus from running for the past 8 years while starting a family. This is her intro back into the world of running. With my recovery from the great hip injury of 2012, I knew I had no business trying to PR on a course with FOUR passes over a bridge, so I knew we were going to just have fun with this event.

The view of the marina...the picture doesn't do it justice!

And we did! We set our watches for 5/1 intervals and began the race. Okay, so there was a bit of extra walking on a couple of the up portions. Again – the goal was to have fun. Keep in mind that I hadn't had a chance to hang out with M in MONTHS, so the race was a great opportunity for us to catch up. We talked about our kids, our possible upcoming moves, nutrition, etc. The views of the Kemah Boardwalk and Marina were awesome, so that helped as well. This was definitely not my best 10K time by any means, but we accomplished our mission – we conquered that stupid bridge and we had fun doing it!

Me with M after the race with our bling!!!

And, one of the perks of doing this race is the bling….

This race knows how to give good bling!

There was a great post-race party complete with breakfast tacos, ice cream and muscle milk. (Sorry guys, no beer..boo!) I grabbed a strawberry popsicle and we headed home. We are all looking forward to the next race in the series – the Toughest 10K Galveston next month, where we have to conquer this bad boy….

Sorry for the bad, borrowed pic...but, you get the idea.  It's not as steep, but it's loooooooong!!!

Tis the season!  What races do you have coming up?