Saturday marked the completion of my first 10 mile race. When people find out that you're training for a marathon (or half marathon, as in my case), they tend to assume that you are fast. Everyone wants to know what your time was. The minute I got back from the race, the first question I got was, "How'd you do?" The short answer is, out of 893 runners... yours truly came in 683rd with a time of 1:50:47. I even got beat by a 9 year old and several people over the age of 60 (there's some inspiration for you!). Even the incredible 73 year old runner was only a couple minutes behind me.

But....

It's not about that. My time? That's trivial compared to the fact that I'm well on my way towards accomplishing a goal I've been working on for nearly 3 months. I'm not running to break world records (or even local ones). I'm not running to try and beat that crazy fast 9 year old (though I wouldn't complain if I did.... ;) I'm running to be healthy. I'm running because it's simple and travels well (no gym required!). When you train outdoors as I do, there's a whole new connection to nature, weather patterns and even the city itself that can be pretty cool. I'm really running because.... it's just plain fun and sure beats sitting on the couch.

I've only been 'a runner' since the beginning of January when I was still very skeptical about this whole endeavor. Me? Run? Are you kidding? Growing up, I was a swimmer and a dancer. I avoided running like the plague.

"Soccer? Ummmm.... I'm pretty sure that involves running. No thanks."

"Basketball? Same deal."

"Softball? I'll pass."

So what changed? I suppose that I did. I always loved the fact that in swimming, your only real competition was yourself. I guess I realized it's the same with running. At the beginning, a 2 mile run nearly killed me. Saturday, I ran all 10 miles and though I won't pretend it was a walk in the park.... (it was infact, a run in the park, and the mud, and the rain.....) it was nowhere near as hard as the first 2 miles I started training at. My pace has improved by nearly 2 minutes/mile and... I've dropped nearly 20 lbs. What's not to love about that? :)

This is my muddy glory shot. :)

After the run, we went to celebrate Cole's first birthday. Shamefully.... I didn't bring my camera (which Abuela was quick to point out). But, I still enjoyed watching him devour his birthday cake. I can't believe that little monkey is 1 already. He is pure joy... I just love him so much!

Then it was out for an early dinner and back home to observe earth hour by candlelight.

Time for another 5 mile training run.... have a great week!