Yesterday, I raced...

Posted by Megan , , Monday, February 6, 2012 at 4:48 PM

About 4 months ago, I got a wild hair and decided to start running. I have never run in my life. Well, I have. But never willingly. And not for a consistent form of exercise. Until now! I find myself actually enjoying my runs. Don't get me wrong- its not necessarily FUN- its *hard*. ESPECIALLY when you haven't ever done it before. But I'm getting better, and enjoying it more and more. I like getting out and enjoying our sunshine (that we have plenty of), having more energy, and seeing a difference in my body (especially through the middle, where all my "baby fat" hangs out).

Shortly after I caught the running bug, a good friend said she had just started running too. She also told me that she and another girl I know were planning to run a 4 mile race on Superbowl Sunday. She invited me to run with them, so I took a leap and said yes!

Yesterday was the big day. My first REAL race. not that I was racing really. Not anyone else anyway, just myself. I was planning on finishing the race and running as much as I possible could. I was secretly hoping to be able to run enough to get a time of 45 minutes. But I was also realistic with myself and knew I would likely get somewhere closer to an hour. And I was OK with that. I mostly just wanted to do my best.

It was a gorgeous day for a run! Chilly in the morning, but the sun was out and it warmed up pretty quick. This is my friend Jazzmine (the one who roped me into this whole deal) and I right after we picked up our T-shirts and numbers. We were freaking freezing at this point. And I was standing on a little bit of a hill and look oddly tall...

The race started at 9, so when it was time to line up- the sun was shinning and we were warming up. Here is one more pre-race shot of the three of us... That's Raquel in the middle. Shes an old hand at this running thing. She beat my time by like 20 minutes. We saw her at the starting line, and that was it until the end. lol.

The first half of the race was along the streets. It was mapped out well with cones and spray paint, and people on several corners to make sure there were no wrong turns. Just after the start of the 3rd mile, the course cut off the road and continued on a trail along side of a small lake. You cant see the lake in this picture (it was before I realized that's where we were headed) but I had to stop and snap a quick shot of how GORGEOUS it was out side.

The trailed dumped out about 1/4 mile from the finish line, and we ran along the street again until we hit the park where we started. My official end time was 53:16. That's a little over a 13 minute miler average. Not great. But not horrible either. This race was also the furthest I have ever run. Prior to this, my PR distance was just over 3 1/2 miles. Jazzmine was able to jog the whole way and finished a couple minutes a head of me. 
Post race there was water, oranges, hot dogs and hamburgers. I snagged an orange and some water, but couldn't stomach the meat after the run. The top 3 finishers in each age group got footballs (It was a Superbowl race, after all). The top woman finisher had a time somewhere around 23 minutes... That's crazy fast people. under a 6 minute mile. Wow. Post race photo- we are all still standing! I'm very proud that Jazzmine and I made it!! (Raquel was a given. She does crazy stuff like marathons) ;)

After the awards ceremony, we headed out for a yummy breakfast, and then home to veg. I'm already planning on running this race next year, and want to shave AT LEAST 15 minutes off my time. After a day of rest, its back to training. Adding in some more cross training and speed training along with some longer runs. Today also begins the count down to the next race! A 5k in So Cal! Can't wait!

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