Rewarding And An Accomplishment

This past weekend, I ran in a 10k race. It was held on Saturday, April 2, 2011 in San Diego. The race was raising money for military families with autism kids.  So, Saturday morning I got up at 5a.m, and got ready to leave. I arrived early so I could pick up my bib number and chip for my shoe. Lined up at the start line and just waited to hear the gun go off for the race to start. It was a windy day and cloudy, but that didn't stop all the people, including me, to go out and run for a great cause.

looks like a person running/walking

There was no line up for the start line, so you basically stand wherever you want. I was near the front. The gun went off. Everyone darted off so fast and I was easily passed up by half the people that were standing in the line in front and behind me. I felt so slow, but then that 1 mile marker came up and it came up so quick, I felt great! I felt even better when I saw some of those people who darted off in the beginning, have either stopped to walk or slowed down and I passed them up because they had wasted all their energy on the first leg of the race.

Mile 2 came up. I couldn't believe I was already 2 miles down. I wasn't tired, didn't even think about stopping. There was a water stop break at 2.5 mile. That was my chance to pass up others who were ahead of me since they had stopped for water.

isn't this such a gorgeous view to run around? The entire island was just filled with this and water surrounding me. There was also a camp site, so I saw some campers sitting outside their tents watching. Some were fishing. It was really neat.

View ahead of me

Mile 3 - Half way to the finish line!

check out that big built up dude behind me.. yea, i passed him up and didn't see him anymore after that!

Mile 4 - more than half way, I'm getting there and can do this. I'm not even tired.

Mile 5 - Basically 1 more mile left to the finish line. I cannot stop now.

Mile 6 - Wow, that came up quick...  just the last dash to the finish line.  I sprinted so fast that I was able to pass up 6 people before I got to the finish line. WOOO!

I was so happy to pass up that girl. I was in front of her in the beginning, stayed together for about 2 miles, she passed me up for about 1.5 mile, then at the end I ended up passing her back up!

cute face, huh?

Wish Matt could have been there with me.

Results:
8th place out of 22 for my female age division (20-24)!
Overall, I placed 173 out of 286.
Chip time was 1:02:53. That's about a 10 minute mile pace.

How cute is this shirt design?

I am so proud of myself. I didn't stop ONCE. During my training, I stopped multiple times and something about that day, running for a great cause, seeing everyone else running around me, my adrenaline going... I just didn't feel the need to stop. I asked myself after I cross the finish line if I could have gone further? Yes.. yes, I could have if needed to. That's what made me happy.
Until I got home, then my knees killed me that day and the next day. Monday, I woke up and knees weren't bothering me anymore. Success. Another goal completed.

Run Forest, Run!

I signed up for my next race; a 10k (That's 6 miles). I was going back and forth whether I should sign up for another 5k or try a 10k. But, in the end I registered for the 10k, this way I can see what my time will be and know that I tried something new. Rather than if I were to do a 5k, I would only have the goal to beat my old time; which, I have already completed on the treadmill a few weeks ago.

My race day is on April 2, 2011. Unfortunately, Matt will not be here to run with me or to cheer me on since he will already be on another DET in Yuma, AZ for 2 months, yuck! This race is raising money to help military families with autism kids. 1 of every 88 military children are born with autism. Since I grew up around military and am married to someone in the military, I really support this race and cause. I know one day Matt and I will have children and we hope that they will be healthy. Having to raise someone with autism while your spouse is in the military can be one of the hardest things to do. Not only is it tough, but it's expensive. Most people think that because we're military, we get free everything, that is not true.

Anyways, I'm training right now for the race and if you want to help donate money to my fundraiser, click this link: Act Today! For military families with autism kids

Also, the other day Matt and I were talking about our past trip to the Hollywood sign and L.A. and that's when we decided that we are going to cross those 2 items off our list. We did see a lot of things around the area and we can ALWAYS go again. The list is just to do things that we have never done before, so since that was our first time, technically we should have crossed it off last week.