Greenway Memory 10 Miler

On Saturday Mathis and I drove into Roanoke for the Greenway Memory Miler.  It was a ten mile race, and neither one of us was feeling that great about it.  My running has been so sporadic since starting my internship in the schools, and I haven't been running as much as I'd like.  Here I am smiling at Mathis, yet giving a thumbs down for my lack of training.

I was so tempted to pick up the race shirt and head out to IHOP for pancakes instead of running for the next two hours.  I was tired, cold and not very motivated to run.  But thankfully Mathis encouraged me to get my butt out there -- it was a cold start (in the 30s) but it warmed up as we started running.  The first few miles are ALWAYS the toughest for me -- after mile 3 I had to stop and walk.  My legs were already hurting some, and I couldn't find my groove.  I was battling the mental part of knowing I still had 7 miles to go.  But again, Mathis stuck by my side.  We walked some and then kept running.

By the half-way point I knew that I could finish.  I was starting to find my running groove, and the miles went by much faster.  We still walked from time to time, but overall I was making it.  Mathis' legs hurt pretty bad from the lack of training, but we pushed through.  It totally amazes me how your body can adapt when you run -- of course when you don't run, your body looses some of that adaptation.  But I feel that overall I have a much stronger base for running then when I began.  I started running exactly three years ago, and I've run 5 half-marathons and one full marathon in that time.  This year alone I've gotten to run through the Magic Kingdom, alongside the Golden Gate Bridge, and next to the Atlantic Ocean.  I wish I was running more often right now, but I'm still proud to call myself a runner.  I want to commit to running throughout my entire life, and I just know there are more 26.2 races in my future! :)

We finished the race in 1 hour and 50 minutes, which is an 11 minute pace.  Not my fastest, but not my slowest either.  I'm really just proud to have finished.  After the race we headed over to Starbucks where I treated myself to my second PSL of the season.  I definitely kept thinking about coffee during the race, and it was a great reward.

We didn't stick around after the race, but apparently Mathis won an award -- we had no clue since we were some of the last to finish.  I guess it was a small race, and he must have placed in his age division.  Too funny! ;)

Miles: 10
Time: 1 hour, 50 minutes

Miles this Month: 31