2011 Bayshore 10K

Yesterday I successfully finished my first 10K!!

When I signed up around the end of last year, I was running pretty regularly and was super excited to get training and to build up to this race. Unfortunately, as most things like this pan out in my life, I had foot pain, and then knee/shin pain and took a little bit off of running....then pretty much gave up training all together. If I don't stick with it, I get lazy, and especially when it comes in the form of exercise. They say once you get moving it's easier to keep moving and vice versa, which I can prove is right. But I wasn't about to give up on this race (I'd already payed). Plus my dad and I were running it together and I wasn't about to let him down.

The morning started out early... as in 5:50ish early (eww). I woke up to eggs and toast from my dad and started getting ready for the big run. Sam came over to ride with us and my mom dropped us off at the race just after 7 am. It was rainy and cold outside when we first arrived outside of Central High School and people everywhere! I realized then how much of a non-fan I was of crowds, especially when they're all going to be running together. The course took us along the main college road until the turn along the peninsula and the view was gorgeous Saturday morning. Luckily the rain pretty much stopped when the race began, and while running the temperature was perfect....I think somewhere around 50 degrees.

My dad and I promised to stick together and I know he could have run a lot farther, but I'm thankful he stayed with me. We ran till the turn out the peninsula and then I needed to walk for a minute (not for long), until we ran the rest of the first mile. From then on it was a series of runs and walks and a steady pace of my usual just under 15 minute miles. Most people may realize that people can walk miles faster than that, but honestly that's just my pace. For a while on the way back we did strict run 1 minute then walked 1 minute, until I got a horrible pain in my left shoulder/back and broke down in tears. Then I tried to gather myself as quickly as possible, because I felt dumb for crying while half marathoners were passing me.....and old people who'd probably walked the whole race. Yup I felt slow and stupid. I tried to push myself as much as I could but all I wanted was to finish.

Sam ran pretty much the whole 6 miles and KILLED IT! I'm so proud; she did really well and finished in under an hour. My dad and I finished in just over 1 hour and 32 minutes....not my hour and 15 I was hoping for, but happy anyway. The part I hate is when you see the 6 mile marker and just want to be done, but know you have 2 tenths of a mile left...especially when there's a crowd of people watching. We ran in that last little bit and it took me a minute to figure out how to breathe again.

After the race we met up with Sam and spent some time talking while guzzling water and eating wonderful Moomer's ice cream! They really had everything there for people to eat. Bananas, oranges, chips, and a huge assortment of cookies.

I figured Sandy would finish up the half marathon sometime close after 2 hours because she said she'd been running just over 10 minute miles. I wanted to stay and watch her come in, so Sam stayed with me while my parents left to get us some muffins from Green House Cafe. I LOVE LOVE LOVE their lemon poppyseed muffins (they're seriously the best lemon poppyseed muffins I've ever had), and it was really great of my parents to get us some after the race. By the time Sandy finished around 2 hours and 23 minutes we were freezing, but I was happy to cheer her on. She kicked 13.1 mile butt yesterday!

The lessons I learned yesterday were just to never quit and next time train for a race. Training really would have come in handy.