Reedy River Race - I went, I ran, I conquered

Last Saturday I participated in my first 10K run.  I was VERY nervous about this race.  As you may remember, my little brother wanted me to join him as this was his first race.  I thought he was going to sign up for the 5K but noooooo  he wanted to do the 10K.

As the race got closer it was obvious it was going to be raining.  Ugh.  I had a bad training session on Wednesday.  Ugh.  Was I going to be ready?  Well I could not back out.  After all, little brother was counting on me.

He called me while I was driving down and told me he got his packet.  I asked him what he was planning on wearing to run in.   He said a Tshirt and gym shorts.  I stopped by the Nike outlet and got him a couple of dry wick shirts.  He was thrilled and immediately tried one on.

Race day came and so did the rain.  Lucky for us it was light but steady.  I could tell he was nervous but we when lined up he was focusing. Gone was the smack talk about how he was going to kick my ass.  I never claimed I could kick his just that I was going to run my own race and we would meet at the finish line.  Then we were off.....

I was determined not to stop at the first water station and once I went by it I got into a groove.  At 3.2 mark I was same time as my PR for a road 5K so I was on cloud nine.  The run was thru a park at that point and it was quite pretty.   I made it to the next water stop at 4.97 and walked it thru then started up again.   That last hill seemed like a mountain but when I saw the finish line for the first time I still had a little juice left and sprinted the last few seconds.  Yay me.

The next day our names were in the paper.  Little brother was so proud....even though we both were towards the back of the pack.  It didn't matter to me as I beat my target time and it didn't matter to him...cause he beat his big sister.  :-)

I leave you with a pic of little brother as he approached the finish line.

Now we train....

Last week we had a bit of a transition.  Kelly the Magnificent and I had just completed 3 miles on a trail and he turned to me and said "now we train".  Now we train? We just ran 2 miles on a trail, what the hell was that?  Apparently that was "going for a run".  Who knew?  Well now I know the difference.   After the 2 mile trail run then we moved over to 2nd trail and start the "catch the rabbit" training.   This involves Kelly running ahead of me and I run as fast as I can to catch him.   Did I mention this was on a trail?  During this process when I can't go any further I am suppose to give a shout out and then we walk....then the whole cycle starts over.   This went on for another 3 miles I think.  By the time we were done I was a little blurry.

Gone are the days of merely the 3 miles.....now the bar must be raise so I don't kill over on the long trail runs during the series I signed up for.....oh yeah...that makes sense.

Another new curveball was being introduced to spinning.    Wow.  Who knew that a weird bike apparatus could be that painful.  

This weekend is the 10K with my little brother.   I'm pretty sure walking will be involved but remember - the goal is to finish, right?

I leave you with a picture of my last trail race.  After the faceplant there was minimal dusting off - after all - I didn't want to be last.  And even with the faceplant I was determined not to look like a zombie. 

:-)