Saturday, December 10, 2011

Ready to Run, Run, Run

I wanted to do a post a while ago about the three 10-K's I ran this summer/fall, but never got around to it. I'm doing it now because I just completed the first week of a friend's fitness challenge to run a half-marathon (13.1 miles) per week, every week until the end of the year. The challenge definitely encouraged me to get out and run, when I otherwise would have stayed in. This post is to provide some inspiration for next week.

My first 10-K was at the end of August in Ashton, Idaho. My dad has been running the Mesa Falls Half-Marathon (and Marathon a few times) for a while and they've started to add shorter distance races to go along with it. This year my sister and I ran the 10-K together. The route was flat and empty and wound through lots of farm fields. Our goal was to finish in less than an hour and I think my time was 59:23 or something like that, so we made it, but just barely!

Pre-race

Post-race, with my dad

The next 10-K was in September, in Plymouth, Massachusetts. It was called the Run to the Rock and the final stretch was along the waterfront and passed Plymouth Rock. I did it with a group of friends from church. When the weather was warmer we had a running group one night a week, but now that's it winter we've stopped doing that. There was a big, big hill right after the first mile and the course ran the gamut from residential streets, to industrial areas. I didn't really like the course, but it was really fun to visit Plymouth. My time was 54:15, which was great, especially since I got hot in the second half of the race and slowed down quite a bit.

Sophie in front of Plymouth Rock (can you see it way down there?)

Heading to the finish line. We made t-shirts for the race, which was fun

Our group after the race. The woman on the left, Emily, won the women's race!

Family pic with the reconstructed Mayflower in the background

My last race (by this point I was pretty raced out) was the Tufts Health Plan 10-K for Women on Columbus Day. I had run this the past two years, so I thought I'd continue my streak and run it every year we had been in Boston. They changed the course this year, which I didn't like, and it was REALLY hot. The race started at noon and normally in October that's fine, but I think it was in the 80's, so that really slowed me down and made everyone miserable. My goal was just to finish and my time was over an hour, but I was happy to be done. My dad came out to watch the race, which was fun.

My friend's husband took this awesome picture along the river

After three races in three months I was ready for a break. There's a Valentine's Day race that I've done before, so that is my new race goal. And so far, the winter here has been really mild, no snow or anything. That means my training prospects look good. Did I inspire anyone else to go for a run?