I Love Running Races

I love the excitement of a race. I love that I get nervous every time no matter what the distance. I love the anticipation and chatter at the start line. I love the mind games I play as I am running: "Am I starting out too fast? Too slow? Can I even finish this thing? What lies ahead in the course? Can I catch that person in front of me? How many people are behind me? I feel great! Oh, I feel awful!" And on and on. I love seeing new sights. I love the running community. There are all sorts of people, all shapes, all sizes, all ages, all speeds. And you can never peg anyone from the outset based on shapes sizes or ages as to what speed they will be. I love that it is a community and you feel a part of something, but also that running is such an individual sport. I can certainly race against others, but mostly I race against myself. It is not about beating the competition, but finding out what I can do and if I can beat my last time or just challenge my body in a new way.

Now, with all of that said, I actually ran the worst 5K of my running career yesterday :) Just if you look at my time, 31:19, which put me at a 10:05/mile pace. I finished 245 out of 333, and 12th out of 24 in my age division. Overall, I am quite proud of myself and I am looking at this as the start of my post-baby running career. This is my baseline to start my future personal records. I realized that I need to train a little more seriously and I really need to start adding some sit-ups and core training into my routine. My core is weak and I blame Finnbar! I also need to start running hills after yesterday's course, whew! The first half was actually an easy downhill, but as we were running I heard all sorts of people who had run the course before, talking about "THE HILL" and asking their friends if they were ready for "THE HILL." I should have known it couldn't be good. As I heard one woman talking about it, I said, "Hey, I am starting to get nervous as I have never run this course before." She replied, "Oh, just don't look up!" Agh, I knew I was in trouble. It was every bit as bad as described. It kept going up and up. It was also dirt and a little on the muddy side. In the end I walked it. I seriously could not breathe enough to run up it. Alas, it felt good to get to the top and finish the race!

So, we had a great group running: Sean's brother, Jon S., and brother-in-law, Jon W. and sister, Carrie and Sean and me:

All the kids came to cheer us on: Liam and Annalise and Libby and Finnbar (Aunt Kate and Nana stayed with them during the race).

Ah, yes, I am feeling quite strong before we run:


Proud Dads after the race:


"Seriously, what did you think of THE HILL?":


After the race there were lovely snacks (particularly some macaroons) and we are already talking about the next one we are going to attempt, probably at the end of April. Let the running season begin!