Azalea Trail 10 k Run

Well, we're at it again...the weather for the run was a record breaker! Since it's beginning in 1978, the Azalea Trail Run in Mobile, Alabama, has never been canceled, changed, or experienced bad running weather ... until today! The terrible weather the coast had gotten the last couple of nights didn't hold a candle to what we experienced last night. Bad downpours, severe thunderstorms and tornado warnings most all night. We woke up around 2:00 due to the storm and turned on the weather radio. Pascagoula was under a tornado warning and it was all coming our way. We parked our camper in the Civic Center parking lot and dry camped. That means, to all of you non-campers, we did not have any power or water. We made sure we had batteries in the weather radio in case we needed it. The weather was about to get really bad. Now, if you're in a hotel room or house, you may not think as much about this; but when you are resting on 4 wheels, it makes your foundation a little rocky. So we jumped up and got dressed and headed for the only Wal-Mart we knew. It was a blessing we did. Thunder, lightning, very strong winds and huge amounts of rain fell. We were not the only ones who had chosen to do this. It appeared as though there had been several others, for whatever reason, that had gotten up in the middle of the night to seek for safety. We stayed there until 5:00 a.m. and after hearing the weather on the truck radio, we felt it was safe to go back to the camper, even though it was still raining cats and dogs, and thundering and lightning. We were exhausted to say the least. Now, we were not in Mobile for a jolly old visit to the area. We were there for a 10k Run (6.2 miles). That's a long way when you have a couple of hours sleep! When we woke up this morning, it was still pouring down raining very hard. Kent went over to the Civic Center to see if they were going to cancel or postpone the race. There was a note on the door saying that the race would be held at 9:30 instead of the previously scheduled 8:00. This was fine with me. At least, I knew I would give it a try. If they were going to have it regardless of the rain, I was going to take my cute Under Armour shirt home with pride and not run in this downpour.

The sun came out and cleared the rain leaving behind it a very muggy, humid morning. At least, it wasn't cold. The temp. was in the low 70's. Runners numbered above 3700 signed up (per their website), but only about 2900 showed up. Guess the weather played a part in their participation. Kent was exhausted. I seemed to have gotten more sleep than he did and did well. Although I struggled in the 4th and 5th miles with the heat, I came out with the best time I've clocked a 10k! The last couple of 10k's I finished with the same time of 59:00. Today, my chip time finish was 55:09; my watch had 55:01. Whichever, I was more than pleased and surprised.

Kent overheated several times and I was glad the he was able to cross the line without help. Several had to have help at the finish line collapsing in race workers' arms and some had to have assistance all along the way. As soon as I can get a picture or two, I'll post them.