Feeling Proud

On Sunday, I ran 10 miles in the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler. As I wrote earlier, I really wanted to feel good about the race. I also really wanted an average pace below 11 minute miles. I’m so proud to report that both those goals were achieved.

I slept terribly Saturday night. I think I was nervous, which kept me up and it was also extremely hot in  my bedroom for some reason. I woke up multiple times, slept fitfully and felt sick to my stomach when I dragged myself out of bed at 5:45am. My throat burned and I was legitimately concerned I might get sick the entire time I was getting ready. I took all of those things as a really bad sign, but hoped that being in the chilly morning air (it was about 40 degrees when I headed to the metro station) would help things. I nibbled a tiny bit of a Luna bar, filled a bottle with water and headed out.

Luckily, my quick prayers worked and I felt much better once I was on the metro heading downtown. Once arriving, I was able to find my pace group quite quickly. I chatted with Megan, who was the 10:30 pacer and met a couple of other races while we waited our start. As I mentioned, it was pretty chilly still so I kept my long sleeve t-shirt on over my technical tee. Finally…we were off! As with most races, it was a quick, fun start and I felt pretty good. I settled into a comfortable pace, a bit behind Megan (the 10:30 pacer) and got into a rhythm. Then at about mile two, fate intervened. I had been keeping pace pretty steadily with a woman I had spoken to at the start. After she broke off to get water and I slowed to remove my long sleeve tee, we both looked around to find each other and agreed to run together. It was the best decision. My new friend Jaime and I were perfectly suited for each other. I’m a bad breather so I find it hard to run and talk. Jaime and I really didn’t talk, except to occasionally agree on if we were going to stop for water and to cheer at mile 9. We both listened to our music (by the way, my playlist was AWESOME!) and just did our thing. We just did it together. It was so so great to have a running partner. Especially in the back end of the race (miles 7-9) where I started to falter. I just focused on keeping pace with Jaime and it helped enormously. Through the advent of modern technology, we’re already Facebook friends and  I’d absolutely love to run another race with this awesome woman. I love that running introduces me to awesome folks and an awesome community and I’m so grateful to Jaime for running the race with me.

My new running buddy, Jaime! We rocked it!

So, what about the other goal? Wellllll…I’ll just let you go ahead and see my GPS for yourself.

Eek! I totally killed my goal of sub-11 minute miles! So proud!

As you can see, I had a great race. I am truly so proud of myself for a good run and I’m actually looking forward to my half marathon now that I had such a good 10 miler experience. This was a fantastic experience and I really help I’m luck enough to be able to make this race an annual tradition. The flat course, the awesome volunteers and the beautiful scenery have made it a quick favorite.

Did you run? If so, what was your experience?