I Ran My First 10K Race!

I did it! I ran the Boo! Run for Life 10k race in 1:19:29. I’m happy for several reasons: 1) I completed the race on my feet and smiling; 2) I have a PR (personal record) in the 10K distance (OK, I admit that I’ve only run it twice including one practice run and today, but I beat my last time by 10 minutes); 3) I beat my 5K time from my June race by 5 minutes; and 4) I had a blast.

I woke up at 3 am and couldn’t go back to sleep. I was afraid that I wouldn’t hear the two alarms I set for this morning. I’m not as exhausted as I thought I would be (but there’s always tomorrow), but I did nap briefly this afternoon. I had Greek yogurt when I got home and I’ve re-hydrated since the race. My husband took me to an early dinner and I ate a 1/4 lb. hamburger with the bun. He said he’s never seen me eat the bread, but I was starving and feeling absolutely no guilt. Yes, I ate the french fries and a chocolate cupcake too. Yep, no guilt here!

The people at the race were amazing. Everyone from the volunteers, to the runners, to the spectators. I was one of the last few people to make it in before the race was closed and people were cheering the whole way in. What a feeling. I feel bad for some people that were behind me. They didn’t finish before the 1.5 hours so their time wasn’t tracked. I really hope that they didn’t give up and still finished. That’s more important that the time.

I have so many people to thank for getting me here. Melanie Spring for her amazing cheerleading and coaching; the folks at Fleet Feet Gaithersburg for getting me into the right equipment so I could run without pain and for directing me to information to learn how to run with the proper form; Orlando Darden from BodyFitDc for his encouragement and for patiently answering all of my running and fitness questions; and definitely to my husband Mayer for being supportive and for his not laughing at the number of running books I have purchased. I love reading stories about runners and ultrarunning.

I’m looking for my next 10K race. I want to run at least 2 more before the end of the year. My next big goal is the Cherry Blossom 10-Miler in Spring 2010. Guess, I’m going to have to start getting in some serious mileage. Time to go do a new training schedule.  :^)

Happy Running!

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