Finish Lines

True Life: I have a new addiction…crossing finish lines.

The Race for Hope was may things, including inspiring, satisfying, magical, and challenging to name a few.

I had the power of David Cook on my side.

In terms of the race itself it made me think back to a quote that got me through grad school: 
No one said it would be easy, 
but no one it would be this hard either. 
They just promised it would be worth it.

Despite training for 4 months, it was a HOT MUGGY morning in DC. I also didn’t sleep as much as I would have liked or hydrated enough or ate enough before the race. 

I didn’t realize running with 11,000 people would be quite as insane as it was. Also running without knowing the course or exactly my progress was a challenge too.

I started off at a great pace, but prob 2/3 into the race I need to slow my pace a but due to the heat. My legs and endurance weren’t the problem. It was sweating and breathing in humidity that was slowing me down. 

The last straight away towards the finish was my favorite part, seeing the finish line and crossing it was a beautiful thing. 

I knew I ran it in about 34 minutes based on my phone, I wouldn’t get my official data until the next day. I was satisfied with my time, I think I could have shaved a minute or two off if I started the race at the front of the pack and also if I was slept/hydrated/ate properly. Scheduling a race in the MIDST of a vacation was the ideal situation, but I didn’t want to sacrifice having fun either.

After the race ended my friend Kelly and I cooled down and enjoyed all the free water/bananas/snacks etc. I really don’t think I’ve been that sweaty in my entire life. My eyeballs were sweating. Kelly and I continued to sweat for a good 30 minutes after the race. 

It was crazy that at 9:35am in the morning that the race was over. The biggest part of my day was done and it was only 9:35am – that felt weird.

My official race time ended up being 33:29 minutes at a 10:47 pace. Honestly I am proud. I know I can run a mile in under 10 minutes, but right now they are in 1 mile spurts. The fact that I ran 3.2 miles consecutively at that average pace is gratifying. I wish I could track how fast I was going at my fastest speed.

I swear I’m hooked on running. I want proper running attire and watches and all kinds of things that will track my runs. 

Running isn’t a bad addiction to have. My friend Josh who we stayed with in DC is a runner. He ran track in HS and college, currently on average he runs 70 miles a week. Crazy, but I loved picking his brain about running.

I haven’t slacked either I walked on Monday and ran a little 5K on the treadmill yesterday. I plan on running today as well.

I think the fact that my brain is obsessed with running and my next run and my time has taken up brain space that used to think about food and when I was going to eat all the time.

I wish I could bottle up how I felt post race and in these days following. 

Half Marathon training is in it’s planning phases. I know the second half of May is going to be crazy, so I am going to “officially” start training June 1 with the hope to run a half marathon in October. And who knows maybe I’ll do another 5K or 10K in the meantime to feed my finish line obsession!