I did it...we did it...now I'm hurting

Today was a milestone for me. The first time in my life I ran a race. What kind of race? A 10k. Where? At Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, Ca.

It has been about 3 months of training to get to this point. Grant it, last weekend my group ran 8 miles which is more than a 10k, but it was the first time to run in an official race. It was for a good cause also. All proceeds of the race went towards the Speech and Language Development Center.

I had a lot of anxiety the night before. I woke up a couple times during the night, and was afraid of my knee and hips hurting. I was also afraid of being late for the race but that was fine. I got to our Snail's Pace tent and met up with all the coaches.

I was psyched! I was nervous! I had performance anxiety! What if I fell? What if I came in last? These were all thoughts going on in my head. And what can you expect on your 1st race? But as we were lined up in the chute, and racing gun went off, all of that went away. I was on my way to the finish line with my group!

I broke away from the pack, but come around mile 4, my knees and hip starting to give out. I had to slower my pace down, and listen to my body. I couldn't keep the run 5 mins, walk 1 min interval that I had been so good at doing. Was more like 3 run, 2 walk.

Goodness, was I glad I made it past the finish line! The excitement....and the pie that was waiting at the end! It was awesome!

Now it's time to rest and definetley lots of cross training this week and from here on out. But one thing is for sure, I learned a lot about myself today, a lot of what I am capable. I learned to listen.

Funny thing when you are competing against yourself. When your body tells you to stop, but your mind is telling you that you can do it. Is this the runner's high people talk about? Is this the sense of satisfaction and achievement that all runner's experience?

I think I'm addicted!