My First 10K

I was feeling a little better about running this week.  Last Monday I ran 8 miles in 1 hour 38 minutes.  That's about a 12 min/mi pace but the best part was I ran almost all of it.  I walked for about 30 seconds at the beginning of the last mile on a killer hill in my neighborhood.  But other than that it was a pretty good run.

I took the rest of the week off to save up energy of the race on Saturday.  I was going to do a short run on Wednesday, but was so exhausted from work I decided against it.  I did ride my bike to the grocery store twice during the week, so I did get a little bit of physical activity in.

Thursday night I stayed up until 3 am watching The Hunger Games and Friday I spent most of the day exhausted while working.  But on Friday night I could not fall asleep!  I had to be up by 6:30 am so we could leave for the race at 7 but for some reason I couldn't fall asleep until after 1 am!

I got up shortly after my alarm went off at 6:30 and got dressed, ate a granola bar and chugged a full glass of water.  I also drank a Diet Mountain Dew on the way to the race but amazingly I wasn't as tired as I thought I'd be despite the lack of sleep.

I rode with my friend Mary Beth to the race.  I think it was still dark out when we left.  I am NOT a morning person! AND it was RAINING!  I knew they wouldn't cancel because so much goes in to one of these races.  So it looked like we would be running in the rain.

I just wore my regular running capris and a short-sleeve dri-fit Nike shirt.  The only thing I would have done different was to maybe wear a hat.  The rain does get in your face while you are running and that might have helped.

We didn't pick up our packets early and only had about 30 minutes until the race started at 8am.  So we hurried to pick up our stuff.  For some reason I always get really nervous and have to use the bathroom before a race.  So while I stood in line for the port-a-potty MB took our stuff back to the car.  There was a long line for the bathroom so I was kind of freaking out.  They kept making announcements for runners to make their way to the starting line.  I finally got to use the bathroom and we made it to the start line with 5 minutes to spare.  Which was nice because we didn't have to spend a lot of time waiting around for the start.  I always get claustrophobic at the start or races

This race was a 5K and 10K and everyone lined up and started together.  The 5K runners were instructed to turn around at the water station. I had been expecting a small race because one of the girls in my bible study organized this race and said we had a good chance of winning something because there were only 85 people signed up for the 10K.  But there were a lot of people!  It was not a small race.

The start was crowded but I just tried to keep a steady pace until things thinned out.  About a mile in there was a big hill.  We were going down it, but I knew that meant we'd have to come back up it at the end.  Great.  Wonderful  Gotta love hills.

When we got to the water station I so wished I was turning around with everyone else.  There were so few people that kept on going!  I felt really alone.  I could see about four or five people ahead of me.  At one point when we turned a corner I tried to see if there was anyone behind me.  I couldn't see anyone so from that point on I told myself I was not allowed to look back.  One rule for the 10K was that you had to run at least a 16 min/mile pace.  Seeing no one behind me for that brief second made me think I was the last person and in danger of not keeping that pace!

But then I managed to pass two GUYS!  So I knew there were at least some people behind me.  I also got passed by a grandpa at one point, so yeah, not that impressive.  I kept having to remind myself that this is my race and to stop comparing myself to others because that would just ruin it.

I didn't stop at the water station because at this point I knew if I stopped or walked it would just mess with me mentally.  Then I saw THE HILL.  We had done about 4-5 other hills during this race, but for some reason this one was the worst.  I told myself not to walk.  Just get up that hill.  And I did.  But then I had to walk.  I walked for about a minute ("just to that road sign") and started running again.  I ran until I could see the turn for the last stretch.  I was kind of dying so I decided to walk for just 30 seconds or so in order to really push myself to the finish.  (See I told you I shouldn't have walked because it only led to me walking again!  Keep in mind all this happened in the last 3/4 of a mile.)

When I rounded the last corner and saw that the clock was not to 1:10 yet I was happy.  I ran as hard as I could and made it across the finish line in just over 1 hour 9 minutes!  It was an 11 min/mi. pace which I was happy with!  It was the first race that I actually felt happy and satisfied with!

This race was part of the Chic-fil-a Race Series so they had free Chic-fil-a at the end of the race!  That was a bonus!  And we got a nice tech shirt.  I definitely will do another one of these if they have one in Raleigh again.

My high from the race was short lived though when I thought about the fact that what I ran on Saturday isn't even half of a half marathon.  Oh goodness.  What did I get myself in to?  I loved the 10K, but I am still not feeling good about this half marathon.  Just 3 weeks to go! AHHHHH!