I Finished!!

Today I ran my first 10k and it was awesome!!  I ran faster than I thought I would on a pretty hilly course.  I finished in 56.24 with a 9.06 pace. 

I started out the morning with a lite breakfast:

I had a peice of great harvest dakota toast with peanut butter and apple butter, a banana and some coconut water.  I woke up about 2 hours before the race started to make sure that my breakfast was digested.  I went outside to take Champ for a walk and realized that it was FREEZING!! Not quite what I had expected, but I layered up!  I had underarmor on every part of my body. Before I left the house I made sure to have a dose of my race buddy

Thank God for this stuff. Saves me every time.

The temerature 30 minutes before race time.

The race started right on time.  This is definitely the biggest race I've ran so far. There were hundreds of people.  I was super nervous before we started as usual.  I got there kind of late so I didn't have time for a final pit stop or to even take my tshirt back to my car (I hope the kid that picked it up out of the parking lot is enjoying it).  Here's how the race went:

Mile 1: OMG IT'S COLD!! This is pretty much all that was running through my head. My feet were numb for the first two miles.

Mile 2: I finished mile 1 in 9.30 so I picked up the pace a little and stated getting some feeling back in my toes.

Mile 3: Wow the first three miles went by fast! Oh hey there are my parents and Matt with Champ!!

Mile 4: This is when we started the second loop around.  I knew what I was in for at this point and I was starting to dread the two big hills that I knew were on the way.

Mile 5: Ok big hills are done.  I can do this.  Just try and keep this pace

Mile 6: SPRINT!!! I can see the finish!! CRAMP! OUCH! SPRINT!!

All in all a pretty great race.  I was really happy that I had done some interval training with hills in the gym and I had tied in some weight training for my legs.  As bad as I thought the hills would be, this is actually where I ended up passing a good number of people. And now for some blurry photos via my fiance's old decrepid camera (love you!!)

That's me in the black and pink finishing the first 5k going around for number 2!

Right before the finish!!

Overall I finished 125th out of 246 people.  I got 11th in my age group. Not bad.  I would love to do a half marathon next year! I wish that winter wasn't on its way so that I could run more outside, but I guess that will have to wait.  I'm off to enjoy the rest of my Saturday. There's a glass of wine with my name on it.