The Race Recap in Words

Race day began at 6:30 a.m. when the ringing of my cell phone woke me from a somewhat restless slumber. I had been waking up all night long - fearful that I would oversleep and miss the race. That set the tone for a good chunk of the morning - I was a bundle of nerves. M* managed to keep me relatively calm and was quite patient with my antics.

We arrived at registration at 7:15 and were signed up and ready to go by 7:30 a.m. Mama and Daddy arrived at 7:45 to snap a few pre-race pictures. Shortly after 8, the starting gun was fired and we were off. The first mile was tough. The weather was hot and humid making an already difficult task more grueling. The two week break from running showed quickly. I had to have M stop and walk with me several times. But we still made the first mile in 11:30. The 2nd mile was more of the same, with a bit of slower pace. At 25 mins we had 2 miles down. Then my knee really began to hurt and the pace slowed considerably.

When M and I made the final turn back towards the finish line, I had to fight tears. All my hard work was about to pay off, and a dream was becoming reality. M and I jogged to the final turn and then it was an all out sprint to the finish line. My official time was 40:13.

Compared to the winner of the race (he ran it in 17 mins), our time was nothing to write home about. But my goal was not to win the race, just to finish. The fact that I managed to finish somewhere other than last place is a bonus. Moreover, with a knee injury that kept me sidelined for 2 weeks, I feel like M and I accomplished a lot.

A friend told me that running could be addictive, she was right. Now with the first race under my belt, I am ready to run more. I don't think M is as excited as I am - but I know he will be by my side every step of the way.