I wrapped up my second fall race last month — the Gumbo Flats 10K! It’s such a fun Halloween/fall event, but this year’s race day was unseasonably warm. This was actually my second time running it — the last time was back in 2014 with Brian!
Coming off my half marathon, though, I was dealing with some soreness in my left thigh — bad enough that even walking hurt. I honestly wasn’t sure I’d be able to race. I took the week before completely off (and had already done very little running for two weeks since my half), hoping that rest would help.
The day before the race, I did a short shakeout run and felt surprisingly good. I warmed up with a mile that morning, still felt solid, and decided to go for it. I’m so glad I did — I ended up running my second-best 10K time ever! I was extra proud of that finish considering the heat and the lingering muscle pain I could still feel during the race.
Afterward, I gave myself another week of rest, and my leg is feeling completely better now. I’m pretty sure it was just an overuse injury. I can’t wait to run Gumbo Flats again next year — hopefully with cooler temps and legs that are in tip-top shape!
I decided to skip the long drive out to the race site the day before and just picked up my packet the morning of the race — and it actually worked out perfectly! The race shirt was such a fun surprise — a long-sleeved, dry-wick material with Snoopy on it! Plus, the swag bag came packed with snacks, which is pretty great for a 10K. There wasn’t a medal or ribbon at the finish line, but honestly, a lot of shorter races don’t include those — and I didn’t mind one bit!
They had so many fun vendors at the race site, including Trader Joe’s and The Melting Pot! Trader Joe’s was handing out pumpkin bars, bananas, and apple juice — such a perfect fall combo. And The Melting Pot had strawberries and brownies (though I was a little disappointed not to see any chocolate sauce!
I even scored a few fun freebies — a squishy soccer ball and truck! Good thing I snagged a close parking spot to haul everything back to the car!
It was still dark out when I headed out for my warm-up mile before the race. There’s something so cool about this course — part of it runs right along a small airport in Chesterfield! It’s also nice and flat, which makes it a great, fast route for runners.
I love when Strava gives you a medal! Unfortunately, I just started using Strava a year ago, so this 10K wasn’t a PR for me.
When I got home, I laid out some of the other goodies I picked up after the race. Such a cute event — especially if you have young kids (which I don’t) — they would absolutely love all of this fun stuff!
After the race, I thought I deserved a little coffee treat! My mom had been telling me about this new Qahwatea Coffee place that she had been hearing about on the news. Qahwatea (pronounced Ka-Wa-Tea) is a wordplay between Arabic and English, Safi explained. In Arabic, ‘Ti’ means “my,” and it rhymes with the word “tea” in English. When combined with the Arabic word “Kahwa,” which means coffee,the name Qahwatea cleverly translates in English to “my coffee.”
It was only 10 minutes away from the race site, so I decided to head over there. There was a HUGE storm coming in, so I was trying to rush there and then back home to miss it.
The restaurant was really cute inside and they had the viral TikTok cakes that look like fruit in their case.
I decided to try their Qahwatea Latte, which is infused with traditional Yemeni spices. It was really good!
Then I got one of their fruit cakes, a pumpkin one and a chocolate pistachio milk pudding. Outstanding! I wish this place was closer, I would be tempted to go every week!
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