This past Sunday I participated in The Love Run 5K/10K to benefit Senior Concerns. This great charity raises money to bring "Meals on Wheels" to senior citizens. It was a great day, a great event and a great run! Let's go back a little bit....
After finishing my 3rd 5K in April, I decided I wanted to try a 10K. Some friends, who will remain nameless but you know who you are (CAT AND ANG!), were trying to talk me into running a half marathon and I thought I could placate them by signing up for a 10K as a test run.
I found The Love Run and a 10K in August on raceplace.com and proceeded to sign up for them as preparation for the half I MAY or MAY NOT sign up for. Lo and behold, I signed up for the half marathon a full 3 days before I ever ran the 10K. But I digress....
I've been training with my running buddies, Heather (aka Ditto), Ryan (a girl with a boy's name) and Lindsey (aka Lu)...we did weekly runs, slowly added a half a mile or so each week. However, last week I came down with a cold. I wanted to be healthy for the 10K, so I eased back on my exercise and DOUSED myself with vitamin C.
I had 3 simple goals for the race:
1. Run the whole time
2. Finish
3. Don't be last
I didn't want to give myself a time goal, but secretly I was hoping to get in under 1 hour and 30 minutes!
We carbed up on pasta the night before and on race day Ditto picked us up at 5:30am the morning of the run! We stopped at Starbucks for our morning burst of energy and as we walked out Ryan gasped!
A FULL rainbow was over us!
We could literally see where it hit the horizon on both ends! Lu was about to ditch the race to find the leprechaun and the pot of gold!
We headed down to the race, picked up our packets and bibs and stretched! The race started a bit late, but here's how I felt mile by mile.
Mile One:
About 30 minutes before I took some "Sports Beans", this is the best I've felt on a first mile before. I don't know if it was all in my head, but I found a great stride and got lost in my music. At this point I was still with a large pack because the 10K and 5K were intermingled.
Mile Two:
Still doing ok, music still rocking. What pushed me forward? The hairy man!!! There is a man who does all the races in the SCV and no matter the season or weather, he wears short shorts and no shirt and he is HAIRY! This race was at least 40 minutes from home and there he was, sweat glistening off of his shoulder hair, motivating me to get keep going. Thanks hairy man...whoever you are!!!
Mile 3:
LONGEST.MILE.EVER! I'm admittedly the slowest of my friends and all I wanted to do was see them at the turn around because it meant I was almost there! When I finally did run by them, I made them take out their headphones so I could yell, "HAIRY MAN!"
Mile 4: By far the BEST mile of the race. Every song on my shuffle was AWESOME! My theme song came on. I sang out loud and ran. By this time, I was pretty much alone. It seems I'm the slowest of the runners, but faster than the walkers.
Mile 5: Still feeling good!
Mile 6: This was a tough one, a bit of an incline and this one girl was pacing me. She'd pass me, then walk. Every time I passed her, she wasn't having it and would run again. That is, until the last .2 miles. She literally stopped running and started texting. I said to myself, "Peace out Homie!" and started booking. My body hurt the second I could see the finish line, but I finished strong.
Time: 1:24: 42
Then it was time for the chip time, it actually took us almost 3 minutes to start so my official time: 1:22:12!!!!!
I met all my goals! Even my secret one! All in all a great day! I can't wait for my next 10K in August. This one has an added benefit, an ice cream sundae bar at the end of the race! Yes please!
And I'm doing it, The Rock N Roll Half Marathon in Vegas in December.
As my friend April would say, "The Heather of 5 years ago is saying, 'What the hell?'" Shoot, the Heather of ONE year ago is saying that!
Thanks Ditto, Lu and Ryan for a fun run and being great support!
XOXO
STEW
