For any serious runners, stop reading now. You will find the story below completely wimpy. For anyone not into running, stop reading now. You will find the story below a total bore.
For anyone in between, hopefully you can bear with me.
I ran my second 10k on Saturday. The venue? The world-renowned Garlic Festival. Never heard of it? Well, join the rest of the world. The race was small (only about two hundred runners), but the countryside venue was as beautiful as the weather.
As someone said to me this weekend, "Why do I pay money to run?" Good question. I guess I just want to push myself to run a little farther and a little faster, and competition gives me that extra push. I'd save a lot of money if I were just a little more SELF-motivated.
When I signed up for the race, I read about the "rolling hills around a beautiful golf course." "Great," I thought, imagining gentle ascents followed by gentle descents.
I was wrong on that one. The first hill appeared at the 1 km mark, and it just kept going, and going, and going--for the next 3.5 km. On the way up, I thought, "I don't care what time I make. I will just be proud of myself if I finish this race." Yeah, it was that annoying. I finally hit the summit and ran downhill, thinking the course would be a breeze from thereon. But no. There was plenty of uphill work yet to do. Yes, the hills were mostly inclines rather than true mountians, but my legs were still sore the next day.
As it turned out, I ran the race in just over 50 minutes, with a pace of 8:05 per mile. That's a little poorer than my previous 10k, but I think not a bad showing considering the hills. The cool part was that I came in first for my age group. (Thank goodness there were only two hundred contestants and that the nine women who finished before I did were all younger or older. I lucked out there.) I got a lovely medal featuring--garlic.
For anyone in between, hopefully you can bear with me.
I ran my second 10k on Saturday. The venue? The world-renowned Garlic Festival. Never heard of it? Well, join the rest of the world. The race was small (only about two hundred runners), but the countryside venue was as beautiful as the weather.
As someone said to me this weekend, "Why do I pay money to run?" Good question. I guess I just want to push myself to run a little farther and a little faster, and competition gives me that extra push. I'd save a lot of money if I were just a little more SELF-motivated.
When I signed up for the race, I read about the "rolling hills around a beautiful golf course." "Great," I thought, imagining gentle ascents followed by gentle descents.
I was wrong on that one. The first hill appeared at the 1 km mark, and it just kept going, and going, and going--for the next 3.5 km. On the way up, I thought, "I don't care what time I make. I will just be proud of myself if I finish this race." Yeah, it was that annoying. I finally hit the summit and ran downhill, thinking the course would be a breeze from thereon. But no. There was plenty of uphill work yet to do. Yes, the hills were mostly inclines rather than true mountians, but my legs were still sore the next day.
As it turned out, I ran the race in just over 50 minutes, with a pace of 8:05 per mile. That's a little poorer than my previous 10k, but I think not a bad showing considering the hills. The cool part was that I came in first for my age group. (Thank goodness there were only two hundred contestants and that the nine women who finished before I did were all younger or older. I lucked out there.) I got a lovely medal featuring--garlic.
6 comments:
You look AMAZING!! Congrats on the medal, garlic or no. Sorry we haven't been able to connect lately. It's been a bit crazy. I'll send you a note once it cools down and we can set up an appointment.
Congratulations! You are an increible woman. I was just complaining that my legs hurt on the 1/2 mile walk uphill from the library here! No kidding. Just barely! Great going!
I am so proud of you. I try walking 2 miles daily, and can hardly wait to get home. You are "WonderWoman". I had a knee replacement this year, and the thought of running makes my knee hurt up to my hip and down to my toes.
Even when I was young, I could not run, so "GO LISA". You are amazing and beautiful.
I really am not very fast, but it's been fun to do things I've never done before. I also pray constantly that I don't get an injury--like a knee injury. What would I do then?
Way to go Lisa, you are an inspiration! I am thinking about doing the Basel 1/2 marathon in October and you are really helping my motivation!
i am very very very impressed. training takes so much time, i don't know how you did it. but it paid off as can be seen by your lovely garlic medal and your amazing skinniness! congrats.
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