Fast forward to this past Sunday, September 12. The big race day! As Pat was driving me into Seattle at the crack of dawn, I was questioning why in the world I ever thought that voluntarily running was a good idea. I had butterflies in my stomach, and to that point, I had never been able to successfully run the complete 10K without walking. However, on Sunday, miraculously I actually completed the race with no walking breaks! I credit my friend Joanna for keeping me going. There were moments when I started to tell myself that walking wouldn't be such a bad idea, and she was there to motivate me and tell me that I could do it. Running is such a mental game! It's amazing how exhilarating accomplishing something that was previously deemed unattainable can be.
Now, I am perfectly aware that a 10K is not the most impressive distance in the world, especially given the popularity of half and full marathons nowadays. But for me, a non-athletic, non-runner, any distance running was quite an accomplishment! I learned that I had to stop telling myself that "I can't" and just go. I never expected to ENJOY running, but surprisingly, by the time race day came, I actually did!
Now, I'm hoping to make a habit out of this and run several 10Ks a year. New goal: beat my time. (My time on Sunday was exactly one hour, well and a 100th of a second or something).
We'll see how long this motivation lasts...
Pre-race "carb-loading" (aka, an excuse to go out and eat pasta!)
I'm alive! Seeing Pat and Quinn as I crossed the finish line made the torturous hour of running totally worth it! They both looked so proud. It was definitely the highlight of the whole experience for me!
Pat wasn't a very aggressive Paparazzi (hence the side view). Here is our team minus a couple who had to take off right after the race.
Strong women!
The team + families
No comments:
Post a Comment