10K Race

On September 11, 2010, I ran my first race. I decided that so many people around me were running races, and I just turned 30, so what better time to start! I trained for about 3 weeks by sticking to a 10K running plan. Along the way my knee kept hurting more and more until finally I felt like I would cause damage if I kept running. I had just bought a pair of running shoes too! I was really frustrated. I took about a week and a half off, and it got better. The break was a major set back in the training schedule though. The race was 2 weeks away and I didn't think I'd make it in time, so I pretty much wrote it off. However, I kept running on Saturdays mornings for those last 2 weeks. The most I'd ran was 3 miles. Finally the night before the race Tami called and was on her way to pick up her race packet. She talked me into running and signed me up while she was at the Y. It was official, no turning back, I was gonna run a race. That night I slept awful. We had a huge storm, and I'm scared of storms, even more now with a baby. Beck was crying off and on throughout the night becaue of the storms. Then about 3 a.m. I heard an awful crash in the kitchen. Part of our cabinet came crashing down onto our dishes. Nice. Off to a great start! I met Tami at her house so we could ride to the race together (that's what the experts do, so they tell me). It was quite comical... Tami was in a zone. She put "Boom, Boom, Pow" on the radio to get us pumped up! Yep, that's right. Tami and Black-Eyed Peas. Hil-arious! I on the other hand was not in the zone. Good thing she was there to show me the ropes! We arrived and I realized I had no idea what I was doing. I'd read about races the night before "how to not stand out as the newbie." Rule #1 Don't go to the head of the pack! And where did all my friends go- to the head of the pack, and MADE me stand with them. So the gun fires and EVERYONE runs around me. I just kept telling myself "don't look back" because I didn't want to know how close I was to the end of the pack. I was certain that's where I'd be running (walking more like) the entire race. I kept trying to slow down and not let all the fast people intimidate me into running faster than I could. I see up ahead 2 people standing on the side of the road saying something to everyone who passed them, and they had a watch. So I took off my head phones to listen. They were yelling out times. I put two and two together and figured they must be yelling out pace times. Well when they said mine "10:48" I thought "holy crap, I gotta slow down!!" After that my pace was all over the place. I couldn't keep it steady. One annoying thing was there were people around me who would walk/run, but I always stayed near them. They're walking and I'm not passing them! Up the hill they'd walk and I'd run, but on the way down they'd be right back with me. So annoying! I was so worried the first 3 miles that I wouldn't make it. My goal was not to walk. Having never run more than 3 miles before in my life, I thought that was a brave goal. Once I got to mile 4, it was a piece of cake. I hadn't prepared by loading energetic songs onto my ipod, so I had been listening to coffeehouse music the entire time. Finally an energetic song, "Take It All" by Hillsong, came on just as I was about to mile 5. That's my song!! And no better timing either! I pushed repeat over and over until the end of the race. I was pumping my arms, singing out loud, everything I could do to stay positive because I kept fearing at some point it would get hard. (I now realize I should've been running faster!) Going into mile 6 I figured I could actually make my goal so I picked up my pace and actually left my "pack" in the dust! Ha! As I was coming up to the finish line, Tami was there to greet me. She ran with me for the last bit (I noticed she took her number off so not to be confused with those finishing so late! BAAAA!!!) I remember I turned my music down and started to talk to her. She was like "it's ok, you don't have to talk" thinking I was worn out. Yeah right! I hadn't pushed myself at all. Then as I came to the finish line I noticed all the people who had come to cheer for me- Mom, Jeff, and Carla. So sweet. I cried. It was quite an experience. Much like child birth, oddly. It was amazing to have friends who encouraged me throughout all my training, telling me what kind of shoes to get, how to take care of my body, riding to the race together, etc. Then to have them all there cheering me on at the finish. I thought about it later and realized 2 of my best friends helped me accomplish 2 very rewarding things in the past year, give birth naturally to my first baby and run my first race. Each helped me in the area they were most passionate. I was lucky to have them as supporters.

We all celebrated by going to Donut Bank after the race. My favorite part, and secretly what got me to run the race!

Finish time 1:15

Pace time 12:00