First 10K Race!

After being sick for a little over two weeks, I was trying everything in my power to be able to run this race. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to run at all but this was my first ever 10K run and I was really determined to do it! So, thankfully, I recovered enough and with the help of some DayQuil and other painkillers, I made it!! I even finished with a time I would've been proud of, had I been completely well. So, I call it a successful day. I finished in JUST under an hour, as in, about a minute under an hour.

My friend Clare on the bus to Phoenix Park - a little over an hour away (quite the trek).

 Five of us ran the 10K together, all from the running group I started here in Dun Laoghaire.

 Mimi, hopefully you'll see this. I put this up so you can see the vest in action! This was one of my birthday presents.

 Heading into WAR!

 There were over 11,000 runners and they somehow managed to have a very organized start. We went in waves based on estimated finish time (which we gave when we registered online) and the waves were spaced out by 7 or 8 minutes.

The guy in the center is some big English actor in the longest running soap opera over here. "Coronation Street". So, he was one of the big celebrities running. There were also quite a few world champions and gold medal winners in long distance running. The male who won the whole thing today finished in 27 minutes!! That's remmmarkable! It broke the previous world record, in fact.

Here's a video of us at the start. You'll see me in the center about 45 seconds in.

Love this. Hope to keep this picture and show her later on that this was Mommy's first 10K race in Dublin, Ireland and that she was there to see it.

Overall it was really great! The first 5 kilometers were wonderful because it was nearly flat and we were going quite fast. The second 5K, however - 3 whole miles - were UP HILL! That was really rough. By the time I finished I was dangerously close to blacking out but I survived. =) As I crossed the finish, my eyes went completely black but I just tried to keep going forward and eventually I found water.  I look forward to running a 10K when I feel better and see how that experience stacks up to this one. I also look forward to running a 10K that's FLAT! =) So glad that I was able to run it and here's to many more! Really, the thing I'm most excited about is getting the T-shirt.