I was nervous about this all week. I signed up for the 10K at River Run back in March while I was starting Bridge to 10K. My training was going well and I felt confident. I had it planned that I’d be running 6 miles for two weeks before River Run and feel great by race time.
Well that didn’t happen. Unfortunately I got runner’s knee after increasing my mileage too much one week and I ended up taking a whole week off of running. Through ice, compression, elevation, and knee band I greatly improved my knee and on Monday ran 6.3 miles for the first time! I was thrilled. I didn’t run for the rest of this week, focusing on biking and swimming instead, and this morning I headed downtown for my first 10K. A couple of my coworkers were also running in the race and we all discussed how felt before starting out. That helped calm me down.
The first two miles went by pretty fast and then the 5K people took a right while all of the 10Kers took a left. I thought I would be kind of bummed but I was actually excited to keep going and run through the park even though I knew a monstrous hill was just two miles ahead of me.
I enjoyed running the 10K because it wasn’t as crowded and I ran with the same people for the majority of the race. At mile 4 there was indeed a giant hill and several people starting walking up it. I considered walking, but I really didn’t feel that tired and didn’t want to slow down that much. I ran up the hill and felt pretty triumphant at the top.
At mile 5 I tried to pick up the pace a little bit and passed a few people on the way to my finish line. As soon as I saw the finish I raced hard towards it.
Unfortunately the race wasn’t chip timed, only gun timed, so I’m not really paying attention to my gun time score since I know I started about a minute after the gun. It took me about 61 minutes, which was my goal.
After the race Jason and I went to Hamburg Inn for some brunch and I rode my bike home. There were some problems with this race, but I won’t go into my complaints. It was a great thing to do right before graduation and an amazing accomplishment. Six months ago I couldn’t run one mile and today I finished a 10K. I told my dad that I never imagined accomplishing something like that in college and in some ways it feels like an even great accomplishment than graduating from college in a couple of weeks. I always knew I would finish college… I didn’t always know I would run a 10K.
I got my medal from last week on Friday, which was pretty great timing. It seems silly, but I just kind of held it and looked at it last night before I went to bed. I was so nervous last night, just as nervous as I was before my first 5K, and looking at the medal was a reminder of how far I’ve come and my hopes and wishes for the future.
Go, you! So impressed. Jogging is HARD WORK. I know when I began jogging, I had zero endurance. A friend of mine was in his late 50s and was jogging every day 5 and 6 miles. I couldn’t understand it. But a couple of years ago, like you, I decided to do it. I started training for a 5K and couldn’t believe when I began to improve. Of course, last year, I had to stop running because a of a cyst in my foot, but it always amazed me: I absolutely hated running, but I loved how I felt afterward. Hope you rest today and bask in that feeling of accomplishment.
I already had some endurance from long distance biking, but it’s a very different kind of endurance. Running has also improved my biking because it works different muscles and helps me find a cadence. What a bummer about your cyst though!
Congrats! A 10k is awesome! I just ran my first 5k on Sunday, and I hope one day to make it to the 10k mark. Your post is definitely an inspiration to get me to keep at it!