2447

I was the 2447 person to finish the Bluegrass 10K. I tied with a 10 year old girl. That makes you feel good, doesn't it? ::cough, cough::

I will say this: I achieved my goal! I was not aiming for speed or running against the clock... I was aiming for endurance and running against myself. It was kind of a solitary affair, which is ironic, considering I was surrounded by roughly 3,200 other people. But I drove myself to the race, leaving a quiet, sleepy house behind. I arrived and walked to the starting line by myself. I don't think I said a single word to anyone for at least 2 hours. The whole race, I was by myself. I saw 1 person I knew: my friend Rachel was calling out times at the 2nd mile marker. I caught her eye and waved, but ran on. I didn't stop to walk once. I kept a very slow pace for running. I was overly cautious in the first mile and it took me over 14 minutes. My average pace was around 12.5 minutes overall. I think miles 3 and 4 were the worst: a lot of uphill running, and for the first time, I experienced leg muscle fatigue. Usually it's just the breathing that takes me out... this time, breathing was ok, but the muscles were starting to get to me. They kindly kept fairly silent until the second day after the race, and then they started screaming at me. I am incredibly glad that I did it, and hope I'll be able to participate in a slightly shorter Midsummer Night's Run.

Then it was sort of anticlimactic. You finish, surrounded by people, but you crossed the finish line on your own. No friends or fellow running friends to greet or high five. So I got a banana, an orange, some water, and sat on a grassy knoll outside the courthouse downtown, and stretched. After 15 minutes, I got up, got in my car, and drove home. That was that.

However, props to my roommate Jessica who made a sign cheering me on and drove downtown to show it off... only problem: neither of us saw the other. I didn't find out until I got home, but she's an awesome friend to be so thoughtful and such an encouragement!