L4Z 10K

http://www.living4zachary.org/

Before every run, I have of list of items that I MUST have with me.

• 3 Hair-ties  My hair is really long and thin so I have to tie it several times to get it to stay.
• Headband  With long, I also have fly aways and they are easier to control with this.
• Chapstick, LOTS of chapstick
• Headphones  I get bored easily so I sing and not think about how far Im running
• 2 sport bras  These puppies bounce and it hurts, with 2 on they stay put
• Spandex , if i dont my legs chaff, yes gross but its a must

Finally,

• Band-Aides Why you ask?  For my toes.  For whatever reason, no matter how far I run, I always get a blister on my toe besides my big toe.  Not on the tip, on the bottom.  You know, the spot that if you bent your toe to the bottom of you foot, that little space?  Blister.  Every time.

I was ready for this run. Nervous, yes, but I was read.  I tagged my shoe, pinned on my number and headed to the start line.

The route of the run was fairly easy.  There were not many hills, I just fell like I was running in a circle.  (The route was more of a clover shape, up one road turn down the road, go strait , turn up road, turn around, back down road....you get the point)

Mile 1-4 were easy peasy.  I didnt even start to breath hard or feel anything on foot that a blister was going to pop up.  There was a water stop along the way so at the 3rd one, I grabbed a cup.  While trying to drink, and run, I missed and dumped half of it down my shirt.  I laughed and kept going.

Then I hit mile 5.  Oh mile 5.  The clouds opened and down came the rain.  I was soaked and my shoulder cramped up.  I took a second, in the rain, and stretched my shoulder.  I did not stop just slowed to a walk for about 30 seconds.  Once the cramp was gone, I was off again.  In the rain.

The 6 mile marker the appeared.  All I could think was "Please rain Please rain stop so I can finish"  Right then, the rain stopped and I took off.

I crossed the finish line, in front of the man that I had been following all day.  My time? 

1:06:45  Thats right :) Can I say how excited I was?  If the dang rain would have held off, I might have been under an hour, maybe.  Either way I was super excited to finish with that time for my first 10k.

Whats next? The half.  I can only hope to finish that in 2.5 hours.  At this moment, I dont want to think about that. Im going to focus on another goal checked off my list.

Pat on back