The Columbus 10k

My family and me after the race. I'm SO GLAD the rain held off and they were able to come!

This past Sunday, I ran my first real race since James was born (I say "real" because I did run a 5k at the end of March but did basically nothing to prepare). When James was ready for a jogging stroller, I started getting serious about running again...meaning, I ran regularly rather than once every week or two. In a matter of 5 or 6 weeks, I managed to stay motivated, convince a friend to train with me, and actually run this 10k!

James and I did our weekday runs together. On Saturdays, after yoga, we met up with Jackie and her boy Peyton for our long runs! I've never had a running partner before so I was REALLY nervous. I've always been afraid I would slow someone down. Fortunately, Jackie and I seem to run the same pace for long runs so it worked out well! It actually made the runs easier and more motivating to do.

Pre-race

The weird thing about training for this race is that I did all of my runs with James and the stroller. It took a solid week to get used to running with the stroller. When I finally figured it out, it was like I'd been doing it forever. The downside to stroller jogging is not knowing your real, solo pace. With James, I would average 10 min/mile +or- 10 seconds on long runs and run anywhere from 8:30 something to 9:40 something when I was intentionally going fast (btw, I could not hold the 8 something pace more than a mile with the stroller).

I had NO IDEA what to make my goal time for this race! After talking to Jackie about it, we decided to go for a 9:15 average. She had done some running without Peyton and knew what she was capable of so we went off of that.

Post-race

Guess what?! We smashed our goal! I averaged 9:06/mile and Jackie's was a second faster...the girl has a kick! She can finish a race like a boss!

Celebration at DK Diner!

Next up:
I've committed, meaning, I've paid for, TWO HALF MARATHONS in October! On the 4th, I'll be running the Run Like a Girl Half and, on the 19th, I'm running the Cbus Half! Although I've done halves and fulls in the past, I've never done two within two weeks of each other! I'm really excited to see how things go :)