10K

Arial and I ran a 10K this weekend. It was to be an indication of how our training was going. If we sucked, that would have made some of the longer races and triathlons coming in the future worrisome. If we did well, we could feel a little better about ourselves.

Two days before the race, I ran by myself for 4.7 miles. That went poorly. I finished but I was completely dead by the end. I was really worried about the 10K because I knew that I was going to be pushing the children in the stroller *and* going farther.

But (to kill any suspense) we did pretty well. We wound up running an average of 10:41 miles and while we weren't in the front of the pack (or the middle) we did beat some people.

When we started, the whole crowd zoomed ahead. There were maybe 8 people behind us. It was actually kinda neat to see the river of people ahead of us.

At about the 2 mile mark we got caught up with the 5K people (they started later than us and we shared some of the same route). That made it hard to know how we were doing against the 10K people.

It was a pain to get through the walkers. Most were good about giving us room but some just seemed to be in their own world. That did feel good to pass some people though, especially knowing that they were doing a lesser distance.

We dodged a few sprinklers that good-intentioned people left in the middle of the street. Both kids slept (Johann more than Frances). We met up with and passed the 5K people again (the route was a loop) and finished.

We both felt pretty good at the end. Neither were gasping for air or falling over. I'm not saying we felt like doing the race again but we felt great for just having run a 10K.

So, I am now feeling a little better about our training. I am still afraid of swimming nearly a mile, though.

mwz