The Race

Joe and I before the race


Above: Along the race course- just beautiful!

Below: Me after the race!

A few weeks ago Joe and I ran in our first race- the Westport Island 10K!

And for all of you out there who thought or said that we were crazy, too old, too out of shape, etc.... well, you were right. Except that we did it anyway!!

We trained for about 7 weeks (not enough time really) and we really committed to it. There were a lot of early mornings, late nights, Advil, and ice packs involved in the process but we stuck with it! And it payed off!

The day of the race I was pretty nervous. Thankfully it was an absolutely perfect day for a race- overcast and just warm enough without being hot. Listening to all of the other runners at the beginning of the race was enough to make me want to wet my pants however. You see, apparently the Westport Island 10K has a (well deserved) reputation for being Maine's hardest 10K. Yep, a number of other racers who do many races throughout Maine confirmed (before we even started running) that this race is a killer with seemingly never ending hills. And...they were right. The ENTIRE course was hills of some sort with absolutely little to no flat areas.

My entire goal for the race was simply to run the entire race (as in no walking). To be honest I wasn't sure I could do it. The farthest I ran during training was a little over five and a half miles (and this race was 6.2 miles). Joe knew he was able to run the distance (since he had a number of times during training) so his goal for the race was to run it in 50 minutes or less.

Even though I was so nervous before the race that it prompted a total stranger to look at me and say, "Honey, you're going to be okay" I decided somewhere during the first mile that I wouldn't let myself walk.

And so Joe and I ran- up hills, down hills, up hills, down hills...you get the idea. We crossed a couple of amazing bridges right on the island coast and we climbed one rather difficult hill right at the end of the race (which we were warned about). To be honest that hill was almost the end of me and it was the only point where I thought I might not make it. The most surprising thing to both of us was that many other runners (including a number of them who beat both of us) walked most of the big hills. Joe and I (independently of course) would just about catch the runners in front of us running up the hills (because they were walking), but then they would take off on the downhill. It's apparently a race strategy that some people use. But, our goal was to run the entire race and for me it didn't really matter how long it took as long as I ran the whole thing.

And...I DID IT!!!!! I ran the entire race. And I have to admit that as I neared the finish line with nearly everyone else from the race cheering me on and Joe at the end I started to well up just a little bit. Just 7 weeks before I was a mom of two (one being a 9 month old) who wasn't exercising at all. I never thought I would be able to run an entire 10K. So as I crossed the finish line I felt pretty proud of Joe and I that we did it and finished what we started. I finished the race 4th to last (but hey, not last) with a time of 1 hour and 14 minutes (under 12 minute miles- which for me was better than all of my training times on long runs). Joe finished 20th with a time of 52 minutes. He was just over his time goal, but given the difficult course and all those hills Joe was pretty happy with his time. I was so proud of how well he did!

So there you have it- our first race! So, what's next? Well, we've taken a little time off (maybe a little more than we should have, but oh well). And now we are about to begin training for a sprint triathlon in the spring!