Ok so this fall meant my triumphant return to running races! My not so glorious entrance being the Disney Princess half in March.
After not so much arm twisting by Jen, I signed up for the Baltimore Half Marathon. Then the Disney Wine & Dine Relay, then the MCM 10K. So my goal for the summer was to be ready to run the Baltimore half and not want to die at the end, or collapse and actually die. These were my goals and I was determined to stick to them. So with a lot of super hot runs! I logged the necessary hours and got my butt ready to go.
First race on the books was the Disney Wine & Dine half marathon. Jon and I signed up for this one together and did the relay. This was Jon first actual race so it was a good way to get him started. Although most of the beginning was a lot og hurry up and wait once we got started it was good. Jen was running the whole half so we decided to run the first 5 together. It made the race so much better to have her there with me (this will be a theme throughout this post, lol). At mile 4.5 they split the relay folks and the full half people to divide up. I waved goodbye to Jen and headed off to trade off with Jon. The transition point was easy to figure out, although the lack of finisher photo frustrated me. So Jon headed off and finished up the last 8 miles. The after party was actually really lame for Disney standards. There has already been to much complaining about this so I digress.
Race number 2 this fall would be my mountain, the Baltimore Half Marathon. This was actually my make or break race. I had decided that this would decide if I was cut out for running. Everyone enjoys the high but I was really lacking in motivation and I was stressed with my crazy life (i.e. wedding planning, masters thesis, work, etc). So if I could run this race and not want to die and actually want to keep running, it would be a success. Jen decided at some point (bless her heart) it was her mission to get me through this race. Granted she did not know most of the above information. So we got into our decided upon corral and got started. This was a CRAZY hilly course. It made me so happy at mile 3 to see Aunt Peggy and Uncle Lou cheering me on!! Once I get past mile 3 I find that I am usually good to go, my wall at Princess was mile 10. Somewhere around mile 5 we found Tracy, who I ran with during the Striders training runs. She decided to stick with Me and Jen and Jen. So it became the invisible rope of Big Jen pulling Little Jen, who was pulling me, who was pulling Tracy. I was very much needed. I did hit my wall at 10 but was able to push through it, although I'll tell you I don't remember any of mile 11. I finally finished at 2:48:00 which is 1 whole hour better then my time at Princess!! I was floored and amazingly not dead! I would continue down this running road with a renewed spirit!
Enter race number 3, the MCM 10K. I went into this with the plans of enjoying the run. I joined Katie and we took off and she showed me the sights of DC and VA. I have to say that this was my favorite race of all 3! It was a great pace, great company, and a great day!
So all in all, it looks like my race time isn't quite over yet. With 3 lined up for 2011 it looks like I'll be going strong. That and if I'm not dead it looks like I want to bury the bling with me!
