Race Day!

Alright so, this final post is much delayed... say two weeks.

Monday, October 8th I ran and completed my first 10K after only three weeks of training.  I think I said before I've cheered at 3 or 4 different Tufts 10K's, but actually racing was a whole different feeling - similar to my first 5K - a little jittery, probably quieter than normal.  The weather was beautiful though!  Last year it was like 90*F, no joke.  So, I am so thankful that the weather cooperated. 

Two of my closest friends had mentioned that they'd like to run with me, but I wasn't so sure if this was a good idea.  I generally like to run alone with my ipod, without the feeling of slowing someone else down - because I am the slowest runner ever.  As the announcers started calling the 7,000 ladies (and like 10 guys) to line up I kind of started freaking out.  I said something like, "Welllll, if you guys want to run with me, that would probably be ok.  Actually, it's a good idea."  The first two miles I think we did like 10:30's which is faster than I've been training during my longer  runs.  At one point I like looked back and there was what seemed like a million people behind, so that fear of being the last one diminished pretty quickly.  My goal for this race was to at least make it to mile 4 without walking, so we slowed down a little bit.  I think we got to 4.5 miles before I just need to walk a minute.  Along the way we saw some buddies screaming, clapping and ringing the cowbell (always a nice boost).  At the end of the race (a rare case with this many runners) the MC announced my name at the finish thanks to my running buddies' screaming/pointing/jumping-up-and-down antics :) - so that was pretty cool.  Thanks ladies!   

We finished with an 11 minute pace for an hour and 8 minutes.  I figured it would take me an hour, ten minutes and was pretty happy with the time.  Then in the food/water line I got rammed in leg by a freeloader's cart - almost took her cart from her!  

No injuries though, success!  Knees felt good, feet felt good.  Lunch and a brew sounded better.

The next time (if there is one, *wink)  something 5 weeks training would probably make more sense.  None-the-less it can be done in three weeks.