My First 10K Race

Today I have a decidedly non-food related post for you guys. I'm not sure how many of you want to hear about other parts of my life, but a big part of my life is running. 


I got into running about a year ago. It feels like a lot longer though, because during that time I've ran pretty consistently. I never would have thought I would one day be a runner! It always sounded so hard-core to me. I also couldn't understand the fun in it. Like what part of just running is fun? When do you stop? I couldn't imagine running more than 2 miles. 

Nothing beats the feeling of finishing!

And then about a month into it, something strange happened. I decided to go on a run with a runner's group in my town in California. The run was a Wednesday evening and I was pretty nervous. I had never ran with anyone before, except as a child in school. 


I arrived and signed up for the 2 mile run. There was the 2 mile run and the 4 mile. I hadn't yet run more than 2 miles, but that day I did. That day I actually ran the 4 miles without even realizing it! It was dark out and I ended up running with a few ladies who seemed to know the route well. I was afraid of getting lost in the dark- after all, I had never run outside at night before! Before I knew it, we were done and I had run 4 miles. It was a huge deal for me then and really started my passion for running. 


Fast forward to today, and I run regularly. I have never found a better work-out. It also helps with stress relief for me. There is a saying, 'if you don't have the answers to your problems after a long run, you probably never will'. I have solved many a problem while out on one of my runs. 


In the past few months, life got in the way and I started running less and less. And my mileage and speed dropped too. I had gotten up to 8 miles back when my man and I were living in California. 


I decided the best way to get back on track would be to sign up for a race! I have participated in one race before, a 5-mile run. It was a lot of fun and since I'm a competitive person it's always fun to run with others. However, it was pouring and muddy on race day, but I still made it through. 


I will be running my first 10K on October 22nd in Prospect Park in Brooklyn. It's so exciting to be running my first race in New York as well! 


Hal Higdon is THE man for marathon and race training plans. I heard about him from Runner's World  and immediately looked up his 10K training plan once I had signed up for the race. It's nice because you don't actually have to run every day while training, as one might expect. Instead there is a lot of cross-training involved as well as strength-training, which I normally never do! 


I'm super excited for this race and I'll keep you guys updated with my progress! 


Note: Because I only have 6 weeks left till the race, I started the training plan from the 3rd week, which is no big deal for me, because I'm already fairly in shape. But I'd recommend allotting the full 8 weeks for training if you haven't run a race before or don't regularly exercise.