10K Official Results

The official results are in - Andrea won her age group and came in 4th overall! Nathan came in with a new best friend, Nick, in the 3 year old age group and was very happy to "win" a medal. Although, he pointed out that it was only plastic. The children's race started by the river and ran up hill through the starting archway passing all the adults waiting for the 10K. The children raced their hearts out as all the adults cleared a path and stood cheering and screaming like it was the Olympics. It brought tears to this running mommy's eyes.



In my race, I'm happy to say also went well, in spite of tornado warnings. The skies cleared and beautiful sun rays filtered through the clouds over the Columbus skyline. I received third place in my age-group with a PR of 48:06.8 which is a 7:45 min/mile pace. I'm pleased that I was able to run this just one year after Ethan's homebirth. God is gracious and I'm thankful for every step. I know how blessed I am.

Here are my notes for what worked well for this race:

When running/racing with children in tow, prepare, prepare, prepare. We got everything ready at least 2 days in advance. Thus, we were able to get everyone out the door by 7:30 am without stress. Crucial.

I prayed. I cannot over-emphasize the importance of giving each race or run to Christ.

I focused on running MY race. I always go out too fast, so I've learned to go easy the first mile. Everyone else was flying that first mile. I'm built for distance so it takes me until mile 5 & 6 to find my cadence and rhythm. I turned it on then when other people were drained. I also deliberately over-estimated the amount of race left.

I found that I can follow the principles of the FIRST program of cross-training and running targeted runs without running myself into the ground physically. I did not follow their program religiously (see previous posts on teething) but in principle I was surprised to find I could race so strong with such low overall mileage.

We are so thankful for such a fantastic race day!

Next goal is a half-marathon later this summer.