A Month of Firsts: Mom's first race

My good friend Katie (who just had a baby less than 3 months ago) kick started me into running a couple months ago.  We have been trying to get out to run in the evenings 3-4 times a week.  She also encouraged me to sign up for the Kilometers for Cam race.  When we decided to sign-up for the race, we were running 3-4 miles consistently.  So, we decided to push ourselves and register for the 10K race (6.2 miles).  Another friend and running buddy, Leah, signed up and trained for the race with us.

I was nervous since I have never run a race, but liked having a personal goal to work towards.  Because for years (well, almost 7 now since Jadyn is almost 7), I have not focused on anything for me...everything has been about the kiddos and helping Nathan with his schooling/career.  It was really nice to have something to work towards for myself.  I must admit that I love our evening runs...they are great for my physical and emotional well-being as it is a time to vent...I mean chat...with good friends.  We have had other friends join us for our runs as well.

The race was awesome!  I totally see why people say races are addicting.  I felt great almost the entire time (I got a little sluggish around 3.5 miles and my asthma was acting up a little around mile 5), but all in all I felt great and felt like I could have kept running at the end of the race.  Katie and I decided that our goals for the race were to stay together the whole time, run the whole time and not walk, and to try and get an under 10 minute mile pace.  We did just that and came it at right around 61 minutes....so just barely under a 10 minute mile pace.  It felt great to reach our goals.

This was a large race and they had tons of free activities for families.  While I ran, the kids were able to ride the carousel, get their face painted, jump in the bounce house, get pictures taken in photo booth, etc.  After I got back from my race, they had a little fun run for the kids.  Jadyn was super excited to run this with Nathan.  She has such a determined little face when she runs and is actually quite fast.  I think we might need to have her run a 5K with me soon!  She was excited because it was a pirate themed fun run so she got pirate treasure prizes: eye patch, bandana, water bottle, some candy/stickers, jewelry.

Pre-race: Me, Katie, Robyn, Robyn's son Daniel

Post race: we don't look too worse for wear!

Look at Jadyn round that corner

Nathan and Jadyn after their run: Jadyn chose a unicorn for her face paint