First 10K = completed!

One of my fitness goals this year was to do a 10K and a half-marathon.  Well, I can now cross one of those off the list.  On Saturday, I completed my first 10K!!

It was the second Run to Exile, hosted by Exile Brewing Company in Des Moines.  I did the 5K last year, but decided to up the ante a little this year.  And by "a little," I apparently meant double.

When I signed up for the 10K, I was sure I'd be plenty ready with lots of training runs.  But ... well ... spring was busy and I have not run as much as I wanted to.  I confess I was more than a little nervous/anxious going into this race.  Could I really run 6.2 miles??  Well, no, probably not, but I figured I would run as much as I could and then walk if I had to.  That was my philosophy.

I worked a short shift at my part-time job in the morning and then I changed and headed to Exile for the race.  As it kicked off, we started up a hill and wound through downtown Des Moines, along the river, past the Iowa Cubs ballpark, through Gray's Lake Park and back to Exile.  Our race actually went through someone's wedding photos, which made for some laughter and probably more than a few photo bombs.

The 5K and 10K routes split off at the ballpark, and I confess I was a little tempted to take the 5K fork.  But I didn't.  Because I'm stubborn.  And I was determined to finish a 10K.  When I saw the 3-mile marker, however, I thought to myself (and said to a few nearby runners), "If we'd chosen the 5K, we'd be drinking beer right now."

Have I told you before that I'm a chatty runner?  Because I am.  I totally chat with other runners during races.   I'm sure they think I'm crazy, but oh well.

I was able to keep a really good running pace for the first three miles, but the heat was starting to get to me.  At mile 4, I decided to allow myself to walk a little bit.  And for the next two miles, I did walk/run intervals.

While running through Gray's Lake Park, I got some high fives from little kids.  That totally helped me pick up the pace and power through the last bit of the race.

And when I was done, there was a free beer at the finish line.  YAY!  Oh, and also a finisher medal that is also a bottle opener.  Perfect.

Even though my only goal was to finish, I decided to have some benchmarks for my time as well.  I stole Holly's strategy of having some finishing goals based on the pace I've been doing on some of my recent runs.

Good -- 1:20:00
Great -- 1:10:00
Awesome: 1:05:00

My time --  1:18:47

GOOD!

I'll definitely take it.  Especially since it was about 85 degrees at race time (who plans a race for 3 p.m. in the summer?!?!?) with 30 mph wind gusts. 

So proud!!!

Yes, I was wearing a shirt from my favorite brewing company.

Here's what the back of the shirt says:

It's OK if you're jealous.

Even though I didn't run the whole thing, I'm still really proud of myself for just completing the race.

And now I have race fever.

+++++

Last week's workouts

Friday: Off.

Saturday: Run to Exile 10K.

Sunday: Off.

Monday: Off.

Tuesday: Off. 

Wednesday: Off.

Thursday:  Off.


I was really lazy this week when it came to workouts.  Obviously.  But I'm kicking off a better week tomorrow with a two-hour long Zumba party.  I can't wait!