Lung Strong

I ran a 15k last Sunday. It's been months since running a race and so I was a mixture of slight worry and curious about how I would do. Thankfully, 15k is a bit over 9 miles, not the 13 ish of a half marathon.

It has been raining here all week and most of last week too. So, Sunday morning, it was raining lightly. I left my house later than I wanted to, got close to the start and managed to find a perfect parking spot not too far away. I walked to the start in time to hear an announcement that the race would be delayed 15 minutes for the weather. A few of us chuckled a bit. It had been raining and would be raining, why delay? I'm sure there was some reason, but it is a little bit funny.

Races are a lot of fun because of the people around. There are great people running it, wonderful volunteers and interesting vendors.  It's instant community in a way because everyone is there together and there is common experience. You chat to people beforehand

Towards the end of the race, I was getting tired. I cheered with the volunteers. I cheer at them, they cheer back or vice versa. It is fun, breaks up monotony, and gets my head off of being tired. Close to the end, there was a large hill. Ew! In my mind, the end had to be close. Finally, a runner just behind me yelled, "The finish is just around the corner, run faster!" So I ran faster. I am really thankful for that encouragement because I had no idea that we were that close to the finish. There was a turn and then the end so when he said it, you could not yet see the finish.

I hope that I am an encouragement to others who are running the race. Before the race, there are many people to say good luck to and chat about the race. During the race, I say good job to people who pass who or people that I pass. I cheer at the people on the sidelines. They cheer back. I also hope that my cheering maybe gives them a bit more energy to give to someone else who needs it.

Ryan was at the finish line taking a photo. It is really nice to have him there to say good job and to walk around with afterwards. I appreciate the support!

We had to wait a bit to see if I placed in my age group, and I did! During the run, I really have no idea how many people are ahead of me. It is fun to see the results sheets as they get printed. I look at my time, count women in my age group and try to get a sense of the placement. I get lucky because women in my age group usually win the race, which means that I place higher in the age group that I would otherwise. Yay!

A little over three weeks until the next race.....