My First Race

On Saturday, October 25, 2008 I completed my first run, Run Forest Run, which was held at Izaak Walton Nature Preserve in Homewood, IL. I finished the 4 mile race with a 7:57 minute/mile pace - something I did expect at all. This was probably the toughest run I ever experienced because it was a trail run, i.e., we ran on rocks, grass, dirt, mud, etc. I kind of expected a difficult run because of the terrain. However I did not want to back out of the race, so I just ignored the conditions and kept my legs moving. About half-way through, I had to pray for strength - I was about to run out of gas. I had mad the terrible mistake of starting the run way too face - hence a brief struggle to finish.

I will definitely run this race again and I am already entered in next year's race. Now that I have race experience, I know what to expect the next time I run. I will try not to start too fast!

Run Forest Run

I plan to participate in the Run Forest Run event which is a 4 mile race that will be held this Saturday not far from my house. I think I have trained well enough to run 4 miles without collapsing. This will be my first official race.

Last night I did 3.1 miles on the treadmill. Since we had softball practice that evening, it looked like a run was out of the question until I told my body "you gotta do this". I was able to check my son's Algebra homework, eat a small meal and do some chin-ups too.