The Little Runner that Could

This past weekend I ran my first official race since having Abby. I had run other races since her birth but not competitively. This one was the first since I began my training with Luke’s Locker. I am right now working on speed work and bettering my 5k and 10k times. I have never been a fast runner. That is why I like doing the endurance runs. I know I can last the length of 26.2 miles. It’s the fast ones that somewhat intimidate me. I’ll run the 5ks and 10ks but more for me and not to truly race. Well, this weekend was different. As we were preparing for the race our coaches asked each of us what we were looking to run. The men in my group were saying about a 26 minute 5k. I looked to the women and we discussed our times. I said that I currently ran about a 9:30 minute/mile. I was looking to do that or a little faster. So we all agreed to stick together and one of the coaches took the men and the other went with us. (She was recovering from an illness and felt better to run with us.) Our coaches placed us in the front of the pack which I had never thought to do. They said it was better to do it that way. While I was a little afraid of being trampled on (it’s known that the faster runners are in front) I held my ground. The gun sounded and we were off. I set my watch and began. I stuck with my coach for the first mile doing it in about 8:40. I turned to my coach and said, “Wow!” I didn’t think I was running that fast. Mind you if you live in the DFW area then you knew that the winds were rough. There were gusts that at times were between 27-32 mph. Winds were between 18-23 mph. The temperature was in the 30s. Frigid to say the least. I kept on trucking along lagging behind my coach but never letting her get too far. I looked at my watch at mile 2 and saw that I ran that one in about 9 minutes. Still not bad. Oh, and yes, Cowtown is known for its hills! I did hit some of them along the way. As I passed mile 2 my coach turned to me and said that I needed to get my breathing regulated. I knew that was my biggest issue but I couldn’t seem to get it under control. I tried my best and kept pushing myself. I made one last turn and my coach ran up to me and said to pick it up and go. I tried my best grimacing the entire time. I finished and glanced at the clock to see that my time read 26:50. Wow! Mind you that if I had run a 9:30 minute/mile I would have done the race in about 28 minutes. My goal. I was so elated I couldn’t believe it. My coach had run back to get the rest of the girls so we didn’t finish together. I was literally in shock. I nearly cried realizing that I just did something that I never thought that I could. I later found my coach and thanked her over and over and over. After that I ran to get my food and took off for the finish line to find Jon. He ran the half marathon. He finished in 1:50. A great time!
Later that day Jon and I looked online to check our results and found that I had placed 5th in my division! 5th! We double checked to make sure and then looked at the number of women in my age division. There were over 300! Again another milestone! So needless to say, I feel like the little engine (runner) that could. I thought that I could and I did and even better!
Now my current things that I am working on are:
Regulate my breathing (I think that will help even more in my races)
Lose the last few pounds of baby weight (every pound matters in running)
And a half marathon in a month (goal for that sub 2:13-that was my last half marathon time in 2006)
I can officially say I am back in the race!!