Run?
I would have thought you said "Rum?"
I didn't run. At all.
But...Stew and I ran our first "real" race on Sunday. I say real, like there is a fake one...but what I mean is "first". First race ever.
I'll take you back...
So here I sat, mid winter in New England...looking forward to Spring. I stumbled upon Millennium Running and found the Shamrock Shuffle. Two miles? Done. I signed us up with the promise of beer after the race for Stew.
Leading up to the race, I ran outside in the cold once. All my other running was in the basement on the treadmill...which I can promise, 90% of the time I got bored and slowed down into a fast walk and read a magazine.
So on Sunday morning I laced my sneakers and put on a Bib for the first time. I had a personal goal in my head. That goal was 17 minutes. Finish your first race in 17 minutes.
Stew and I entered the coral and shuffled (pun intended) our way back to the 8-9 minute pace section. I stood there, slightly bouncing to keep warm during the National Anthem and stumbled upon a friend of ours....snapped a quick picture and was back to thinking...17 minutes.
I had the yawns. The nervous yawns. Stew called me out on it.
The countdown started and we slowly made our way to the gate.
And we were off. I passed a lot of people in the beginning and started looking for my Sister who was watching from the sideline. I passed where I thought she'd be and never saw her...slightly bummed, but kept going.
I found myself making my way around people and thought "am I going too fast?" "maybe I should slow down". I was second guessing my pace.
At one point I lost Stew in the crowd of runners, but quickly saw him to my left. We made it to the 1 mile mark and had to turn around and run back for the second mile. I looked at my watch...7:42.
I felt good.
At the turn around, a lot of people slowed down...which I felt myself slowing down as well. There was an 8 year old (give or take) boy and his Dad running next to me. His Dad was trying to pump him up, saying "Come on buddy, good job". I looked down and said "awesome job, bud"...he smiled and I kept going.
.5 to go.
I start looking for my sister again. I finally see her and sprint over to her side of the road. I give her iPhone a wave and off I went. At this point I don't know where Stew is...but I can see the finish line.
I picked up my pace...and all I can hear is Foster the People in my ear buds and the crowd yelling and cheering. I hit what I thought was the finish line (it wasn't) so I quickly sped up again to the finish line.
I looked up and saw 16:something. I did it!!!
16:16
I beat my personal goal.
I know. Two miles is not far. But you have to start somewhere, right?
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
Stew finished just a few seconds behind me, but I couldn't find any of his race photos to put up here.
I just want to publicly thank...
My parents for watching IV while we ran and spent the day out.
Stew for keeping me calm and running this with me.
My Sister, Kim for making the trip out with a broken leg.
My sister-in-law, Shannon for being my inspiration (which by the way, I think she should start a running blog. She's a super fast marathon runner)
Our next race? May 25th. Our first 5k.
