10K, done!

I did it and I'm so freakin' proud of myself!!

Post-race. Congrats to my running buddies Adrianne, CC and Adam!

Apparently, all my worrying was for nothing. I did so much better than I ever thought I could, and didn't even have to walk at all!! I finished the 10K in 1:02:47 (393rd out of 538). That's a whole 4 minutes better than my previous (only other) time. Woohoo! I'm attributing my success to race day adrenaline—I was definitely feeling the nerves beforehand—so I'm not sure I could pull off that time again, but that's ok.

I actually felt really good while I was running. In fact, probably better than I've ever felt during a run. Not overly tired and my quad didn't bother me at all. Plus, the hills weren't as bad as I had thought (although there were a couple of doozies). I was definitely sore on Sunday and Monday, but nothing too terrible.

I'm also really impressed with Adam. He kept up with me for the first mile, then fell a little behind so I was worried about him. He hung in there though, and kept at it with a combination of sprinting, jogging and walking. He finished at 1:12:24 in 503rd place. (Not last like he thought he might be!)

I'm definitely not planning any marathons or half marathons in the future, but I could totally see myself signing up for another 10K, as well as some 5Ks.

Speaking of 5Ks, I actually ran one the weekend before the 10K! It was kind of impromptu, but I figured it would be a good way to prepare me for the 10K. I think it ended up being a good first race (despite the rainy start). I finished in 31:09 (132nd out of 199).

The home stretch; waving to my fans; sprinting (or floating?) to the finish; T.I.R.E.D

My running buddies

The best part was that Adam and the kids were at the finish line cheering me on. When I told them I was running in a race, they asked me if I was going to win. I said I definitely wasn't going to come in first (it blows my mind that someone can run it in 15:54!!) but winning to me meant that I finished and did the best I could. Of course, Logan just had to tell me that a little girl beat me (it's true, several 11-year-olds kicked my butt), but I had to let him know that I did actually finish before the 7-year-old girl who he thought beat me. Ha, I'm so petty.



So the couch to 5K program was clearly a success. I don't know if I'm going to be able to keep up with running over the winter because of the dark evenings and cold weather (ouch, my lungs!) but I don't want to fall too out of shape because I don't want to have to start from scratch with training again. I guess we'll see. Plus, I want to get Aidan to run with me. If that 7-year-old can do it, so can he!