I ran a 10K!

I could probably think of a more clever title, but that's really the announcement I wanted to make. :)

The short story: I ran a 10K today! I'm really excited about this and really proud of myself. I set a goal time of 1:15. I did it in 1:03!! Yay! :)

I'm going to resist waxing philosophical about the story of how I used to not really be able to run, but then I set my mind (and body) to it, and now I can. Suffice it to say: when I started my running program during the summer of 2004 (click on this link if you want to check it out), I couldn't run more than one minute without wanting to die; and now I like to run and do so somewhat regularly. I've run a bunch of 5K races (5K = 3.1 miles) and it's a lot of fun.

In the last few months or so, I've been thinking about doing a 10K race (10K = 6.2 miles). I've run 6+ miles probably 5 times in my life. (So for me it's not a regular thing to run that far.) I wasn't really sure how a 10K would go (sometimes 5Ks are tiring for me -- I suspect it's a combination of my never running outside and never running hills; and the races usually involve both, so the different conditions sometimes make it a bit more challenging). Another problem is that there are fewer 10Ks than 5Ks out there, and it seems like the 10Ks are always on Sunday (when I'd prefer not to run).

A few weeks ago, my old roommate Rebecca told me how she and her husband William were training for and planning to run a 5K race at the end of April. They invited me to run it too; that sounded like fun. I looked at the website, and noticed they had a 10K too. Hmm, it was tempting. I wasn't sure about that though, so I didn't commit to either at that moment.

Unfortunately, circumstances prevented William and Rebecca from being able to do the race. But I still occasionally entertained the idea of running the 10K anyway. Finally, I decided to just do it. I checked the website at the beginning of the week, but online registration was closed, so I needed to go in person. The race was part of the Texas Round-Up which is a health and fitness initiative program started 4 years ago by Texas Governor Rick Perry. Basically, the idea is to just promote better health and fitness levels among the people of Texas. The day before the race they were having an expo downtown, and that's where late registration was being held. So Friday afternoon, I headed down and registered. There were several booths set up from many vendors (which means free stuff!), so I wandered around a bit to check it out (and pick up a few free pens).

I wondered if the idea of running a 10K this morning was slightly crazy. I say this because (a) I haven't been training for it (though I stay fairly active doing other things), and (b) I haven't actually gone running in 3 weeks. And before that...I'm not sure how long it's been (over a month though, I think). I like running, I've just been doing other stuff. So I really didn't know how the race would go.

The race started this morning at 8:00am. My awesome roommate, Michelle, decided she wanted to go with me and be supportive. And she was really great to take pictures for me to document the event. Like this one, me and the state capital building before the race:


This is me making my way toward the starting line. (There were mobs of people!)


And I'm off! You can see me in this picture. I'm just to the right of the guy in the orange shirt.


One hour and three minutes later, I returned to where I had started. I felt great! Here's me with the capital again after the race:


And me with my awesome roommate, Michelle!


This is me pretending to be dramatic.


The race was great. Like I said, the weather was perfect. The course was great. Here's a map of it, taken from the website:

Friday afternoon I drove a bit of it to get an idea of what the hills, etc. would be like. There were some pretty hefty hills in Mile 2. (That mile was mostly hills.) But then much of Mile 3 and Mile 4 were downhill or flat. (So nice!) The second half of Mile 4 and into Mile 5 was a mix of small hills and flat, as we ran back across the river and up through downtown. I knew there were some hard hills toward the end of Mile 6, as we neared the end. But it was funny; as I turned the corner onto San Jacinto (from 15th Street) and saw the hills (there were 2), I thought, "That's it? That's not so bad!" They definitely weren't as bad as the Mile 2 hills; they might have been steeper, but they were much, much shorter. They were still tough -- just not as bad as I'd imagined as I was running. I pushed through them, and then once we turned onto 11th Street, it was downhill to the finish line! It was so great! I felt fantastic as I ran the last stretch. I did it!! And I did it much faster than my goal time. (I felt better than I have after some 5Ks I've run.) Michelle took a great picture of me crossing the finish line (the picture at the very top of this post), and as I crossed the line, I jumped and clicked my heels. There was a professional photographer there and she said she got a picture of that. I don't know if she really did, or if I'll ever see it, but that would be awesome if so.

So I need new shoes, it's true. My good running shoes (which are better than my beat up tennis shoes) tend to hit my toes (the toe next to my big toe, on each foot) in an uncomfortable way. Without being too gross, I'll just say that when I run long distances they make my toes hurt, and sometimes my toenails fall off, which has happened multiple times. (Well, so much for not being too gross.) Half way through Mile 6, my toes started hurting, but I guess I sort of expected it. (I'm just glad it didn't happen earlier.) They hurt the rest of the day (and still do), but hopefully, they'll be okay.

I used my "strong" pin to secure one of the corners of my number to my shirt. That was great! I was able to look down and see it and remind myself that I am strong! (I especially needed it on those hills.)

Yay! What a great race!