I made it...

I wonder if it is safe to take an entire bath in Biofreeze. 


Does that tell you how I feel after running my first 10K? :) 


My ankle hurts. I think I broke three toes on my left foot. 


And... I finished a 10K. I finished it in (around) 1 hour and 4 minutes. That's around 10 minutes per mile... not quite there, but close. 


I probably won't walk tomorrow, but hey... I finished it. :) 


It was really cold. It was perfect weather when I left Lexington... and by the time I made it 20 minutes to Georgetown, I discovered that it was about 10 degrees cooler and it was extremely windy. Clouds were rolling in... so I was pretty pumped that I brought my jacket. 


I waited around the orchard for over an hour. I hadn't pre-registered, so I was worried that if I didn't get there when they first opened registration, I'd be rushed or something. Never again. :) After sitting around for about an hour, we got ready to race. We went down to the road where the starting line was. There wasn't a HUGE crowd of runners or anything, so you could pretty much see everyone in the race really easily. 


The race started and I felt like I was going at a decent pace. There were lots of people in front of me, but there were quite a bit behind me, too. When we hit the 1 mile marker, I looked at my watch. I was under 9 minutes. No wonder I was feeling like I might have a stroke and die in the middle of the road. I slowed my pace (which is normally more like 10:30 per mile). People started to pass me. I got discouraged. The first 20 minutes of my race was truly a struggle. I couldn't find my rhythm or pace... I just struggled. The hills didn't help it any. Every time I thought I was getting into it, a hill would slow me down. It was hard. I was happy at the 3 mile marker, because I was at around 29 minutes, which means I was faster and could have beat my initial 5K time. But after that marker... I was alone. Not last (thankfully), but also not in the "fast" group of runners. I was just alone. For more than a mile, I ran without seeing another person running at all. 


I have commiserated with my fellow runners (Rebecca, Dawn, and Maria) about how mental running is. I never really knew HOW mental it is. But put me in a race and put a group of runners WAY ahead of me and another group far enough behind me that I can't see them, and I become a complete mental mess. :) Well, maybe that is a bit of an overstatement. Basically, my point is that I really need to run against people in a race in order to feel like I am racing. :) 


So, at mile marker 5, I heard someone coming up from behind me. He was a runner that was helping organize the event. He was running back to the finish line (not in the race, just running). He asked how I was doing and I panted that I was making it (barely). He said, "You're at about a 10 minute pace - doing good... want me to help keep you going?" I just begged him to stay where I could see him in front of me... if he needed to go faster, that was fine, but just seeing someone would help me gauge where I was and how fast I was going. He did. At mile marker 6, I had to turn up a gravel road to get to the finish line. It was uphill... and gravel. My ankle was killing me... so you can imagine how frustrating the gravel was. :) My buddy that had stayed in front of me had finished and he saw me coming to the last stretch. He raced me, saying, "Go harder, go harder," the whole time. It helped me so much. And I finished. 


And, for the first time ever since I started running, I wanted food, immediately after running. I hoofed down a banana faster than I ever have in my life. I also would have been happy to eat some apple crisp, but since my purse was in the car and I'd have to walk there and back to get one, I just decided to come home. 


I missed Rebecca (she couldn't come because Joseph was sick). It would have been nice to have her to run against... it helps tremendously. She probably would have kicked my butt, but still... having someone to race against would have been really nice. And, I really missed having her there when I was just hanging out waiting for the race to start. However... I met some really sweet runners, one of which was the women's overall winner and the other one won in her age group. I also saw a friend of mine and learned that she runs, too. 


And, if I had been 30 already (just a few more weeks), I would have won in my age group... by about 5 minutes. Oh well... instead, I'm 29 racing 25-year olds and getting my butt handed to me... not even placing. lol. :)


Dawn - I wish you could have been there to show up the 5K racers. I know you would have totally kicked butt. :)