I almost chickened out of this race. More than once. I had my race clothes set out on Friday night, ready to throw on Saturday morning in the hustle of getting 4 people out the door, really early, on a Saturday. Even on Saturday morning I told myself that I wasn’t running. I hadn’t trained and I had no business being out there on the race course. Then on the other hand, I had already paid the entrance fee and picked up my race bib. And it would be a great time to run at the Toledo Zoo. And I love running with Carah, even though she is MUCH more speedy than I am.
In the end I sucked it up and lined up with the rest of the racers at 8:30. Of course, with the morning rush I forgot to bring my camera, so I don’t have any race course pictures, but the scenery was beautiful, you just have to take my word for it. As always, I like to wear the most annoyingly bright shirts that I can find, that way if I pass out on the side of the road, I’ll be easier to spot.
There were 2 miles outside of the zoo, in the surrounding neighborhoods and the last mile was inside the zoo. Of course the last mile was the most fun part of the entire race because spotting animals makes the running seem that much easier, ya know? When I was rounding the corner to the finish line I spotted Carah and Brady waiting for me! Carah told me that she beat her personal best time of 33:33, by around 3 minutes. I checked her official time today and she finished in 29:28, our girl crushed her PR by 4 minutes! I am beyond proud of her! I, on the other hand, had a personal worst, which I was expecting. I have not run a single step in over 4 months, so I was just happy I didn’t fall over crying halfway through the race.
My actual race time was 39:59, way better than my stupid 40 minutes. Even though it was a PW, I am proud of myself for not letting myself quit a mere hour before the race. I am proud that I ran and ran until my lungs were going to explode, then ran some more.
I am really proud of my return to racing. The racing bug has bitten again, and now that summer is here, Carah and I will be running a lot more races together!
Here is a cute race shot of Carah in her final mile…notice the adorable clothes she is wearing. Yeah, that running skirt is mine and that running tank is mine too. Ugh, I am not going to have any of my own running clothes pretty soon.
And here we are, a hot and sweaty mess after the race. I love this girl.
Did you race over the weekend? Set a PR or a PW like Carah and myself??
{ 6 comments }
