Broadway 10K ~ Race Day

Today was my very first race! It was a very early morning. Today went better than I planned, even with one minor mishap. I'll get to that mishap later....

Green is for the 10K

Yesterday I posted on my fb group page that I would be running my first race. Well, one of my bff's (who started the page) chimed in and at the last minute decided to register so we could go together. I am so stinkin' happy she did! We made arrangements and I picked her up on the way to the race.

The reason I'm thankful she was there? The mishap... we get to the start line, and I go to start up the Forerunner, only to find the battery is nearly dead. Stupid me didn't check it last night because I charged it after my last run, two days ago. Well, my loving husband decided to borrow it for a run and wouldn't you know it, he drained the battery and didn't bother putting in on the cradle to charge. So shame on me for not checking it last night and shame on him for not telling me he used it.

So, my savior, Krissi quickly helped me download and set up the Nike+ app, so I'd have an idea how I was running. I'm accustomed to glancing at my watch, seeing if I'm on pace and how I'm doing in general. The Nike+ app was nice, but I don't know that I'll use it all the time. It only tells you how you're doing at each mile mark. That didn't give me any clue how I was doing pace wise as I was going. That may have been a good thing, or it could have been the adrenaline from the race. Either way, I ended up downloading the app to my husband's phone so that he can track his own runs since he doesn't monitor his pace anyway. He just wants to know how far he's run.

Moving on, so we get the app loaded and the race begins, I cross the start line and thought I hit start...nope. So I'm jacking with the phone while trying to run down hill and around a corner. I finally get the app going and apparently in the process hit "shuffle" on the music and so it didn't play from my running list. Oye, so then I had to jack with it while running in order to skip the sleepy songs. You just cannot run to slow country music. I NEEDED my Five Finger Death Punch!

A short while after the mile marker (as my app was off), the app chimed in. My first mile in under 12 minutes! I'm still counting it, because my app wasn't too far off. Since I wasn't sure what my pace was I ran/jogged 98% of the race. I walked a couple of times in the beginning because, hello I was running a race, but apparently pushed a little too hard for my body.

My mile marker 4 my toes in my left shoe started barking, not sure what that was about, because by the time I hit 5.5 miles I felt nothing. It was an amazing feeling! I love love loved it. Thankfully I thought ahead and sent my camera with the hubs to work the night before. He got off at 8am and was able to walk down to the start/finish line just in time to see me cross it. :)

It was an experience like no other. I'm pumped and ready to run another race. Krissi said it becomes addictive...I think she's right. I cannot believe I blew past my personal record of 14:39 pace... a 13:15 pace???? Who the heck was running for me? :D

Not too bad for a 200+ pound 32 year old. 

I was super excited to see what my official time would be considering the app delay and that we 10kers were at the back of the line when the half marathoners started. It took a little over a full minute for us to hit the start line...

Mile 1: 11:46

Mile 2: 12:42

Mile 3: 14:20

Mile 4: 14:44

Mile 5: 13:42

Mile 6: 11:26

There you have it, in our age bracket I came in 27 out of 28 females. It doesn't matter what "place" I came in. To me, the most important thing is that I ran and FINISHED the race! Also, 203 overall out of 300+ people. Um, that's pretty darn good in my books. LOL. Oh, and if you're curious, my friend placed 19 in the same bracket. I was 21 minutes behind her. That's pretty awesome considering she's been running for a couple of years and I was that close behind her.

It was a great time, a fun race and I'm so glad I had my friend with me to share the day and experience. I wouldn't have had it any other way. For now we're planning on doing next year's glow run together! She's going to do her half marathon in October, so I just may have to go and watch/cheer her on!