Fair to middlin'

Yesterday was my 10th race. Tara asked me to race with her and I agreed because it was for a good cause. The Women's Law Society of the U of I Law School sponsored this race to benefit the local domestic violence shelter/organization. Tara is the HR director of said shelter/organization, and they, like all other not-for-profits, are really hurting for funding. I was happy to run this race to support the increased safety and empowerment of women.

For some reason I got VERY nervous before leaving the house. It made no sense to me whatsoever, but then, that's the nature of anxiety. When I got there and did my warm up, it was a little better until I noticed that the mean age of the other participants was approximately 22. Great. I'm going to have a re-run of my first race of this season. The one where I almost finished last.

I didn't care quite so much this time because Tara and I would be running together and I decided since I already had broken my PR TWICE this year, I'd just run and see what happened.

Apparently law students are not as fit as environmental studies students because we both finished in the middle of the "pack." It wasn't my best time, but certainly not my worst either. And, the actual running felt GOOD -- very strong, controlled, smooth and focused. I LIKED that!

Here we are before the race:




And after:





Tara asked me about the trail run coming up in October. She was a little concerned about the distance (5.5 miles) but said she'd start training and give it a try. Teasingly I asked her if she'd run the 10K with me in November. She said "No. Not this year. Maybe next year." I said "Right! That can be next year's goal for you, like the half is for me next year!" She "Sure, but I'm never going to run a marathon." I said, "That's what I said last year."

We'll see.