Run For Haven 10k on St Patrick's Day

I ran my second race on St Patrick's Day, just 3 weeks after my first. It was a 10k(6.2 miles) beniftting Haven Hospice and half of it was on a trail.  It was fun but was very hard and challenging for me due to many circumstances. I wasn't properly trained for it and had way too high of expectations for myself considering I had only ran twice in the previous 3 weeks since my half.  After the Disney race I was dealing with Tibilais Anterior tendon irritation. I could barely walk the first week after, so I rested and only worked out upper body a couple of times. I put my college degree to use and took great care of the iinjury really well...contrast therapy, massage, stretching, and topical anelgesics (one homemade and one homeopathic).  The following week it was feeling a little better but I was still in a lot of pain, so I had another week resting my leg, only doing light resistance training and biking a couple of times. The Saturday 2 weeks post-half marathon was my first run, just shy of 3 miles, and it pretty much hurt throughout it. But over the course of the next few days the pain completely went away and I went on one more 3 mile run, this one pain free! I also spent this last week doing rehab to get strength back in my foot/leg! Of course this caused me to be over ambitious about the 10k. I mentally set a goal time, which just set me up for disappointment!

The run started at 4:30 pm...the HOTTEST part of the day! Have I ever mentioned I am terrible at running in the heat? It slows me down so much and I get so nasueous from the heat. Within the first 1/2 mile I was hot, tired, nasueous, and wondering why I thought it would be fun to run this race.  After the first mile or so the course took us into the woods, which was a relief from the heat of the direct sunlight, but also came with other challenges...changing terrain, hills, curves, and bumps.  I grabbed water at the first station and poured half of it on me. I stopped to walk through the next water station , which was around mile 3. After that I stopped to walk one other time while on the trail (I didn't stop once during the half!).  I was not having fun and just wanted to be finished.  Kevin was walking around the course with Karis to get pictures of me once I finished the trail portion, and it was so awesome to round a corner and see them standing there! Toward the last 2 miles the weather changed and it got super windy and rainy. I got a side cramp and had to walk yet again. At the last mile I finally decided I would NOT let one more person pass me, so I picked up pace and made sure no one was coming up behind me.

 It felt so good to pass the finish line but at the same time I was so disappointed in how crappy I ran. My time was 1:02, two minutes slower than my goal. I happily grabbed my medal and pigged out on the post race food. It was supposed to be a fun party after but the rain put a damper on that and most people quickly ate and left.  My results:  I got 8th out of 19 in my age group, 38th out of 92 for females, and 78th out of 159 total who ran the 10k (there were many more who did a 5k). I did have fun, just wished I could have properly trained for it! Time to find another 10k race so I can redeem myself, and it won't be an afternnon race lol!

Ok, now the part you really care about, the pictures:

See me?!

(see the lady in black shirt and visor ^ , she won the women's division, with a time of 39", wow!)



I was sooooo ready to be done haha



Double rainbow.

My totally awesome blood blisters: