Jingle Jam 10K – The Last Lap To End Domestic Violence

Just a couple of weeks ago, I decided to sign up for the Jingle Jam 10K.  It had been a while since I'd done an actual race, and I'd missed running with other people.  I usually do the Palmetto Peach right after Thanksgiving, but wasn't sure I'd be in town for that one.  And then the Jingle Jam 10K came across my Facebook feed.

I knew about this race for many years.  I've been in the Augusta area since 2017, but it always seemed the Jingle Jam 10K landed on a weekend when I had other obligations.  The holiday season can be busy, you know?  But finally this year I had a free Saturday.  Unfortunately, this would be "The Last Lap To End Domestic Violence" with this run.  After 13 years, this was the last race.  I hated to see that, but I am really glad that I signed up and got to run it at least this once!

Earlier last week, I was really nervous about the weather.  There was a pretty strong chance of rain on Saturday morning.  And let me be honest, if I'm training... and I wake up and it's raining, I either run on the treadmill or don't run at all.  I know that's not ideal, because I need to train to run in any condition.  But I just don't.  I was thankful to see the temperature was going to be warmer though.  At least if it was going to rain, it wouldn't be freezing too.  And because I am still dealing with this sinus junk... I wasn't sure how the race would go.

Thankfully, I woke up Saturday morning and checked the weather first thing.  It showed the rain chance had moved to later in the day!  It was showing cloudy and about 60 degrees.  This was GREAT news for me!

The race was set to start at 8 a.m.  David, my step daughter Alexis, and I made it to Evans Towne Center Park around 7:10 a.m.  This gave me plenty of time to warm up and get ready for the race.  Can I just say... the weather wound up being absolutely perfect for this?  The cloud cover was fine, and it wasn't too hot or too cold.  God definitely helped us out with that one!

I got warmed up, ran into my racing friend Franny and grabbed a quick picture.  Then hit the restroom, because you always have to go right before the race... or at least I do!  Race day nerves always affect my bladder!  Then it was on to the start line.

I told myself not to go out too hard. And that was for a few reasons... I wanted to be able to maintain a run for the majority of the race.  But also, with the sinus congestion, I didn't want to overdo it.  I was really thankful for quite a few DOWNHILL portions of this race!  Those came in at the perfect time, and I made sure to just let myself coast those.  And thankfully the uphill portions weren't TOO steep.

I managed to run the full race!  The only time I walked was through the water station around mile 3.  I crossed the finish line in 1 hour, 2 minutes, and 17.4 seconds.  That was definitely a pretty good run for me!

Overall, it was a great race.  There were so many people dressed up in holiday attire.  So much joy.  And of course, it was all for a great cause... SafeHomes of Augusta, to help end domestic violence.  I am really glad I was able to finally make it to one of these races, even though it was the last.