Today was the St. Patrick’s 8k in downtown, DC.  It was also my very first legitimate running race, and the debut of “Team Noob-A-Roo” (though we only had 3 people so it didn’t count!).  I’m ultimately thrilled about how my running mate and I did, and am looking forward to seeing what happens in 4 weeks at our HALF MARATHON!!

But not to get ahead of myself… I still have a bit of training to do before I will be comfortable taking those 13.1 miles “in stride.”

Today started out pretty nerve-wracking.  I set my clocks forward last night so I could make a good effort at actually arriving in DC on time, and woke up at 6am to shower, eat a fiber muffin, and drink a water.  I left my house at 7 thinking there would be quite a bit of traffic, but it only took me 10 minutes.  Luckily I have a parking space in my office garage, so I had a free space to park and didn’t have to search for an hour!  My running mate met me at my office at 8am, and we walked to the festivities area to meet up with other members of our running group and map out the necessities.  It was COLD.  I made the mistake of drinking an energy drink before the start, so not only was I shivering from the cold but also shaking all over the place from the caffeine!

The start ran kind of tough since there were SO many people.  We were all given tracking bands to stick to our laces, so they could track our start and finish electronically.  As we stumbled through the start in the masses, my running mate and I kept together for the first mile and a half before we were separated by a slower ‘team’ that trapped me in, so I waved him on and we kept our own pace from then on.  I think it actually worked better since we’re different paces in a race situation, and at one point around a loop I passed him heading in the other direction, so that was a little motivation!

Mile 2 went awesomely (is that a word?) and I had a rush that I think was great for making up the time from the bottle-necking of mile 1.  After mile 2 I ran out of steam a bit, but settled in to a pretty consistent pace for 3 & 4.  The last mile was the killer.  We rounded a bend and I could SEE the finish- its balloons waving in a perfect little arch of glory… and picked up the pace a bit.  AND THEN EVERYONE STARTED TURNING… and we had an extra half mile loop to do before the actual stretch home!! So that was a bit disheartening, and I was pretty tired from my speed-up (my running mate calls them “after-burners!”) but I was still able to push it out for the last stretch home.

What a relief it was to cross the finish 🙂  My running mate was waiting for me there, and we high-fived and grabbed water to cool down.  Overall I felt pretty awesome about it!!

I ended at 44:12, which is a pace of 8:54 a mile.  Not too shabby!  If only I could go back to high school P.E. class now… 🙂

I liked the way the race was run, though I wish they had done the start a little different.  It was crazy to be starting with all those people, though a little motivation watching all the crazy fast people running by in the beginning.  I also passed a guy JUGGLING while he was running as he started out and I was finishing.  All-in-all entertaining!!

Now I’m off to have an “epic” night of sleep!!!

Happy Running!

Love,

Brittanie