10K - check!

Well, it's March 31st and I'm slowly crossing things off my New Years resolution list. On Sunday, I successfully finished my first 10K! Unfortunately (or fortunately?), I have no cute pictures to prove it! I did get an email about purchasing some professional race photos but let's just say I'm not all that photogenic when I run so that won't be happening!!

Anyway, for a bit there I was pretty sure this was going to be the last of my post-baby running "career." But then my competitive nature kicked in high gear and I figure since I've come this far, why not keep going? I mean, once I quit, I won't want to work up to this mileage ever again.... As you can see, I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with running. There are days when I feel incredible and days where I dread running like the plague. I'm told this is normal.

Back to the 10K...Umm, let's just start off by saying you were all right: Mercer Island is NOT flat! I figured that since we'd be running near the water, it couldn't be all that hilly. Think again. I'm pretty sure there was a new, long hill just about every mile which nearly killed me. Oh and then there was the lady at the 2nd to last hill yelling "Last hill! Almost there!" She would have totally gotten my hopes up had I not already seen that the race finished. on. a. hill. (evil!) Instead, I nearly knocked her over and yelled back "No it's not!! There's still a super steep one coming, Lady!" Ok, so I didn't really yell anything but did I mention this race worked me to my core? I found myself really wanting to walk around mile 4.5 or 5 when the hills kept coming and wished there was someone there yelling for me to keep running (maybe I should have appreciated that lady more...) I had lots of time to think of all the ways running a race parallels childbirth and that I was ready for the narcotics right about then. Running is teaching me a lot about myself!

But, I think my "training" (i.e. running while pushing ~80 lbs of kid, car seat and stroller) must have worked in my favor because, surprisingly, I was able to pass a lot of people on the uphill stretches despite my mostly flat training runs. I finished the race in 53 minutes and 56 seconds at a 8:41 min/mile. I didn't really have a goal other than to run the whole way and cross the finish line. But I discovered I was much faster than I realized and was quite pleased with my time. At first when I read the results, I thought it said I got 67th in my division (25-29 year olds) and I couldn't help but think: Forget this!! If I ran THAT hard and still only got 67th in my division, this is NOT worth my while! Wait a second, were there even 67 people in my division? Did they ALL beat me? Anyway, I came to realize I'd misread the results. I actually placed 8th (8th!!!!) in my division (out of 56), 66th out of the 374 females and 173rd out of the 620 racers overall.

My friends Olona and Rachel ran the race with me and were great motivators. Before the race, they almost had me convinced to sign up for the Rock N Roll half marathon in June but then during the race all I could think was "I'm never doing this EVER again!" But then I guess runner's amnesia kicked in (does that exist?) and all of a sudden a 1/2 marathon doesn't sound nearly so bad. I can't believe I'm even saying that!!!! Olona keeps telling me I'm a runner and I think I might be, at least when I have a buddy to talk to and keep me distracted. Yesterday I wanted to prove to myself I wasn't a quitter so went out and ran 7 miles, pushing both girls in the stroller, in the rain. I felt awful and almost quit at least 3 times in the first 20 minutes but I'd told my mom and sister I was going on a "long" run so made myself keep going. And I did it! And felt really good by the end of it (thanks Hunger Games sound recording for keeping me company!)

May 19th. Seattle's Best 15K. Lake Union. We'll see how it goes. If I can comfortably do it, you might just see my name on the registration for the Rock N Roll. Maybe.