Now I'll be honest with you, Dean and I started running as a way to get Drew off the couch since he was applying for an Air Force ROTC scholarship, which involves a fitness test, and the kid hadn't done PE in a few years. We downloaded the C25K app on our iPhones, and Dean was much better at running 3 days a week, so he finished the program weeks ahead of me. He and Drew did a Spartan race in Mississippi, then the 3 of us signed up for our first 5K at Brookley Aeroplex's "5K on the Runway". I found it a little bit boring because it was a RUNWAY, and I was pretty gassed at the end and did a bunch of walking, but still looked like I was having a stroke when I finished. They missed doing obstacles, and signed up for a Tough Mudder next. I'm not into hoisting myself over walls, etc., so I opted for the Azalea Trail Run next, but was planning on the 5K since I hadn't been running a whole lot. Dean pushed me to do the 10K, and I was terrified I couldn't finish. The longest I had run was 35 minutes with walk breaks, and I did 3.25 miles the week before the 10K. Of course, all the "training schedules" show 10 weeks of training and several runs of 6-7 miles, so I was a'skeered!
Here's a crappy pre-race selfie, and sorry if I was impersonating a breast cancer survivor, but my headband was pink and my ears started out cold.
Well, apparently adrenalin is a hell of a drug (uh, yeah, it's used to restart somebody's heart, so DUH!), because I never felt terribly short of breath or exhausted the whole time I was running. It was 50 degrees with very little humidity, so that couldn't have been better. I pulled off my ear-warming headband at mile 2, took my hat off at mile 3, and was contemplating removing my long-sleeved overshirt at mile 5, but the wind got a little chilly so I kept it on. I just enjoyed running with different people - a ton of whom were also doing Jeff Galloway's "run-walk-run" method. Their watches were beeping and I'd pass them when they walked, then they'd pass me when I walked, etc. There were also tons of people in their yards cheering with signs, or just watching the runners, and of course the Azalea Trail maids, plus some female convicts who apparently did some of the barricade work, so they let them hang out and dance and cheer. Good times, and I finished in 1 hour and 14 minutes, which is an 11:57 mile, I guess - not bad considering the walking. Here's a bad post-race shot, which we forgot to do until we were leaving.
So I didn't have my phone to take any in-race pics, but here's a guy's drone footage of the start, if you're interested. I'm under the interstate overpass at the start, just FYI, in the blue cap - ha!
So, does anybody wanna run an "8K by the Bay" on the 11th?!
7 comments:
This is fantastic! If I can get down South -- I'll definitely come do a race with you! Congratulations!!
Well done! Running is my favorite way to exercise. I joined the military at 17 (1979)and there was definitely running then, but I seriously took it up well over 20 years ago. Hope I can still do it in my 60's and beyond :)
Yay, Pammie - do you run?! We can combine a girls' sewing weekend with some kind of race....
And Ann, you're an old hat at this, it sounds like. I feel like an old dog who learned a new trick!
Congrats and will enjoy running vicariously through you.
Cool, Sheila - at this point I'm enjoying sewing vicariously through you!
Very nice!! My husband keeps after me to start running. Not sure I could do it.
Becky, I used to throw up and pass out when I got too hot, so if I can do it, I'm SURE you can do it! (The question is, do you even want to - takes away from sewing time...)
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