Did I mention I ran a 10K???

Run4Shelter 10k, Kent Narrows MD

On Saturday, September 8th, I left my house at O-Dark-Thirty in the morn to head across the Bay Bridge to the Run4Shelter in Kent Narrows, Maryland. The race event was held to benefit a local homeless shelter.

Armed with my iPod and water bottle in hand, I started out on a 10K course with high hopes of finishing what I started after the Warrior Dash in May.  I had been training like a beast, running twice a week until the end of July.  My resolve began to dissolve and all of a sudden I stopped caring.  I've been under a lot of stress lately, and have been struggling to manage it.  I know now that I can't let anything else bring me down but we all fall off the horse from time to time.

At the start, I was pumped.  I took off with a swarm of runners, across a bridge and onto a beautiful wooded trail.  There were runners of all ages, shapes, and sizes.  I even spotted a young girl with her father.  I later found out the girl was just ten years old!  I pictured myself as a ten year old girl... yeah I was amazed!

Anyway, I set a *really* modest goal of simply finishing the race.  Then I decided I would finish in under an hour and a half.  I knew it had been a couple of weeks since I had a really good run and that I would need to pace myself.  And pace myself, I did.  I made it past the halfway point before slowing down for my first walk break.  After a sip of Gatorade, I picked my pace back up and headed for the finish.  I ran and walked for a couple more miles after that first break.

Around Mile 5, an ambulance pulled up behind some of us, and I noticed a young lady curled up on the sidelines with an oxygen mask around her face.  I still don't know how she fared that day.  The last mile was sooooo long.  Even once I passed the 6 mile mark, with two-tenths of a mile to go, it seemed to stretch on forever.

Tears welled up in my eyes as I crossed the finish line.  I couldn't believe that *I* just finished a race, much less 6.2 miles.  I imagined me as the overweight, asthmatic little girl who always finished last in gym class.  I hated running and could not jog even a quarter of a mile without literally gasping for breath.  I watched for my time and didn't place among the first 217 runners.  I checked my time online a few days later, and discovered that I completed the race in 1 hour and 21 minutes.  My pace was slow and I did walk for about a mile or so, but I FINISHED what I started, and that counts as a VICTORY for me!

My next goal is to maintain my 10K and improve my speed.  Half-marathon training may be on the map sometime in the future, but I want to work on my pace first.  I joined a running group called BGR, and ran with them for the first time on this past Wednesday.

Since I traveled to the Run4Shelter all by my lonesome, I only have the 2 pictures I posted on this blog.  However, there are professional pictures from the race at the following link:

http://chessiephoto.com/f922952373

To view my photos, enter "rs49" in the search box at the top right.  I'm not sure how long these photos will be available, but I was not about to pay $53.85 to post them here.

Oh!!  But I also found this YouTube video clip of the 10K starting line.  See if you can find me (in the gray Warrior Dash T-shirt--the one with the horned helmet lol) at 0:26!