Remember that 15K trail run I've been training for? Well, it was last Sunday! I have lots of different emotions about it right now. Actually, other titles I considered for this post were:
Damn, I'm glad that's over
Trail running is effing hard
This is how I earned a donut and a beer today
Regardless, I'm proud of myself for persevering through these last couple of months. I've been pretty stressed. It's not like I have a lot of free time to go run miles and miles every week. But I did it. And it wasn't easy. In fact, some days it was damn hard. There were definitely tears. There was even blood once. As of last Tuesday, I wasn't even sure I could run the race the following weekend because I had hurt my ankle. So I iced it, took some Advil, and went for a quick run on Saturday to test it. It seemed to be okay then, I was was just hoping that it would hold up for nine miles on Sunday.
And it did! My husband was the one who talked me into this run, so the deal was that he would stay with me, though he could have easily placed in his age bracket. So sweet, right? I finished in 2:02. Which is not fast. But it's better than I expected to do, and for that I'm happy.
Dogwood Canyon was beautiful! It was a chilly morning--I couldn't feel my toes for about a mile into the run. There were plenty of water crossings, lots of mud, and just enough hills. We even saw a few deer dart across the path in front of us.
So here's a not so pretty picture of me after the race. And, even though all finishers got a medal, I'm proud of mine.
Now excuse me while I take a week or two off from running. Running and I are still friends, but we need a short break. At least now there won't be any pressure to get in a certain number of miles or make a certain time. At least until my crazy husband talks me into another race...
Oh, and I will be eating a celebratory doughnut this week and treating myself to a massage this weekend!
How do you treat yourself when reach fitness/exercise milestones?
