I Ran a 10K!

 

 

 

My very fist Sunday in Kenai, I was sitting in my Relief Society meeting and they had what's called a "good news" minute. It's just an opportunity for the women to share some of the good things that are going on in their lives. Anyway, a bunch of the women had just run in a Women's Race put on by a local women's shelter and they excitedly shared their good news with the rest of us. I remember thinking, "What a cool thing! I'd love to do something like that!" Well, yesterday, I DID IT!

The longest race I had done previously this summer was the 5.6 miler at Mayor's Marathon. It was long and had some hills... and even though I'd somewhat "trained" for it, it just about killed me. Stupidly, and for no good reason at all, I let running get away from me since then. However, when the registration for this Kenai Peninsula Run For Women came around, I thought I'd give it a go anyway. I figured the course was flat and it was only 0.6 miles longer than the one I did earlier in the summer (10K = 6.2 miles). I probably should have "figured" that I hadn't run in a while and signed up for the 5K.

Well... let's just say, I finished the race. And I finished it without any kind of assistance (oxygen, a wheelchair, etc.)! It was soooo hard. I was about 30 seconds per mile off of my goal. It really makes me mad that it takes so long to build up endurance, yet it only takes a month or two of not running to lose it all! Lesson learned (I think I'll go on a run tomorrow morning). I was blessed (literally!) to have my friend Krista running at my side. She has an awesome sense of humor and even as we struggled through the race, her jokes kept me laughing and going. ("Pleeeaaaasse tell me there's a Snickers bar up at that table!") What a gal!

I'm just so glad this race is over! It feels great to know that I did it, but my sore legs today tell me that I need to run more often. Like I said, lesson learned!