Running goals, part one, complete!

On Saturday I ran my 10k!

I had a great time, and my time was better than I had done on any practice, and I beat my virtual partner (which I had set at a 10 minute pace) by 5 minutes! My first two miles were run at an 8:30 pace, but then I slowed down a bit after that as I got tired and encountered a whole bunch of hills. There is something great about running with other people that I think really helped me do better than normal. I ran almost the whole time, just stopping to walk a minute here and there. I was thankful to a runner heading down the hill (from the 21k?) that encouraged me that I only had a quarter mile to get to the top of the hill and I was able to push past the tiredness to run the rest of the way to the top.

Overall, I felt great, and was really impressed with how well my training worked to prepare me for the run. I didn't get passed often, which meant a lot to me, that once I found my spot in the pack I was able to generally maintain it.

It was a small race, only a couple hundred people, but it was great as my first race, and the views were great (it was at Irvine regional park). I think that next year I will run it again, just because it was a great course.

Side note- for the amount of time training takes, I have already decided that once I meet my marathon goal, I won't go for another (especially since I hope to have a kid by then), but I might continue running various 10ks to keep myself in shape. Just based on this one experience, I can very much see that happening.

Completing this goal earns me 6 weeks "off" before I start training for the Disneyland half marathon. I put off in quotes because I still intend to run a few mornings a week to keep in shape and then do something exercise related on Saturdays, whether that is a hike or a bike ride or something else.

Also on the running topic, because my long runs so monopolize the day, I decided to go for an earlier marathon than the May 2013 one that I originally planned for. My current thought is the Huntington Beach Surf City 2013 marathon in early February. It will still give me time to train, but it means no time off between the half and training for the full. As a matter of fact, my plan is to fit the half marathon into my marathon training as a 13 mile "training" run.

Besides, I like the thought of running along the beach. Part of the Orange County marathon would be by the beach anyways, but the Surf City is almost all by the beach, and has the added benefit of surf music as you run.

After seeing how well training prepared me for that run, I am hopeful and excited about meeting my other two goals.



On a quick non-running note, Tasha was skilled enough to manage to scratch her healing eye spot even with a cone on, so Blake had to add an extension. She happened to yawn as I took the picture, so it isn't a great picture of her, but note his cone extension. :-D