For the Run of It [First 10k!]

Well, it’s over with my friends. I’ve officially followed a training plan [for the most part] & successfully completed my first 10k [6.2 miles].
My official time was 1 hour 24 minutes and 4 seconds. If you’ll remember I anticipated a time between 1:15 and 1:30 which I based off of a couple of things –

1. A pace calculator I found online that told me what my anticipated finish time would be based on my previous 5k finish time. [Original, right?]
2. The hope that I can maintain a pace of 13:45 min/mile [or less!] because my half-marathon in Houston requires that the first 9 miles be completed with that pace, otherwise you get swept away my friends.

I’m happy to report that my average pace was 13:34 min/mile. I ran the entire way with the exception of mile 4 water station where I walked through for I’m guessing about 20 seconds. I also slowed down [didn’t stop though!] at about mile one to give my daughter a kiss as Alfred held her up for me when I passed. It should have been a really sweet moment except my daughter has allergies, so all I really got was a nice mouth full of boogers.

Which despite what you may think is not the breakfast of champions. [otherwise I would have run a lot faster]

<begin rant>
There was a guy at the beginning of the race who saw the first hill [but to me guys, it looked like a freaking mountain!] and was like “Oh, that’s a hill? That’s nothing.” Shut your damn mouth. I get it. You are fit. You were tiny shorts. You have the latest technology strapped to your arm to calibrate your douchey-ness and that’s wonderful for you. But please do not belittle something that means so much to others [especially in ear shot of you!] This may have just been a ‘training’ run for you, but for some people this is a new beginning. It’s hard enough to run in the first place and keep with it – we don’t need guys like you making us feel like our 13:34 minute miles aren’t good enough. Because they are.
</end rant>

The last two miles were starting to make me want to punch baby kittens so I [out loud apparently] said ‘Come on!’ to the imaginary finish line in my head and right about that time I heard a man coming up behindi me say “You got this! Keep going!”  Turns out it was a really great thing I did the whole talking out loud thing [I swear I'm not crazy...much] because we ended up running the next 1.5 miles together. Roger looks 38 but is 50ish, in the Army [I thanked him multiple times for his service. Which leads me to say that whether you agree with war or not, those guys go out there and put their lives on the line – the least you can do is say thank you! They really do appreciate it.] and just recently had knee surgery. His daughter was a few people in front of us. He really helped pass the time and reminded me that people are awesome [except you Hill Guy] even when they’re running themselves 6.2 miles in the ground.

Roughly the last .5 mile I decided to really push myself and as I was nearing the finish line I heard a girl on the sidelines say “Hey, she looks like she’s going faster? Is she going faster?” And as I ran past her I heard her say “Wow, she is going faster!” It’s okay if you want to stand up and do the slow clap now. Because really guys, it was that awesome, that I totally wouldn’t blame you if you did.

This was also the first race Alfred has ever been too. I’ve always had friends who’ve gone with me for my 5k’s, so I’ve actually never asked him. He said he enjoyed himself [we were at a park so he & Lillie had a good time with his friend Kevin and his daughter Katelyn who came with us too] and I think I really surprised him with my time. He had initially thought I would be done in about 2 hours, so it was awesome seeing his face when I told him no I thought it’d be earlier than that.
Overall, it was a really great experience. The weather was in the low 70s, there was a slight breeze & I didn’t crap my pants. Can’t be mad at that now can I?