My First Race

Happy Friday and Happy October to all! Once today is over it will be T-Minus 3 weeks until Marathon day, and I am SUPER excited! I have also gotten lots of presents this week, they always come in bunches, including 4 new pairs of my absolute favorite socks! My mom had bought these and didn't like them, so more socks for me, and look at all the fun colors!!!!

Today was rest day 3 I think, I can say I am positively ready to race tomorrow, my legs are so itchy and full of energy it is not even funny. I took the pup on a longer than usual walk this morning to get my legs a little warm so that I could stretch/roll/ice again this morning- good news it is feeling better, still tight and a little painful to touch, but no where near where it was Monday-Wednesday.

It was a balmy 63* this morning, yes, in Florida!!! I was SO excited, the humidity was moderate, the temps were perfect, and we did not even hit 70* until close to 9am, assuming all the weather outlets are correct, we are expecting the exact same weather tomorrow for my race, possible even a tad cooler, it does not get any better than that, especially when you have trained in 80*- So excited!!!!! I bet you didn't know this was going to turn into a weather blog, and I'm sure you all know more about the weather in Jacksonville than most people who actually live here :)

So this race tomorrow hold a very special place in my heart, the Jacksonville Marine Corps Half Marathon and Freedom 5k was my very first race ever back in October 2009, my official chip time for this race was 35:28. This race went down just before this blog went up, so there is no fun pictures or race recap to give you, but it was the first day I ran 2 miles without stopping, and I was so proud of myself, even more so that I finished under my goal of 36 minutes.

 I remember staying around after that race watching the runners who did the half finish and thinking how hardcore they were to be able to run 13 miles like that, and how cool it would be if I could do that too. When it came to planning my fall races there were SO many good options to race this weekend: The Disney Wine and Dine Half was having it's debut this weekend, as well as a few other contenders, but I knew there was really only 1 race that I wanted a shot at. I wanted to return to this course and be one of the ones who opted for the longer distance, not the shorter for once.

 

               2009

               

                                                                      2010

My running has come so far since then, my 5k PR is now almost 10 minutes faster then the one I set that day. This has been a great reminder when I start doubting myself and training for my upcoming races, and I just can't help but smile when I think how far I have come in just a year, if only that girl at the finish line last year had any idea what a difference one year would make. I hope someone else running their first race tomorrow comes away with the same great experience and motivation that I had. Hope everyone has a great weekend and good luck to all those racing!