The Lighthouse Run

So what did you do on Saturday? Me? I ran ten miles.

Woo hoo!

After spending the night at my grandma's house in Racine, I got up bright and early on Saturday, and headed down to the Racine Family YMCA, who sponsors the race.

The race went much better than I expected, despite the fact that I had never really run on hills before, and there were a lot. During the first mile of the race, we ran through the zoo. At first I thought that would be really cool, but I only saw one weird looking bird. And the zoo smells were a little much. We had a lot of scenic views of the lake, which was fun. I was so focused on running, that I didn't even notice when we went past the Wind Point Light House, which is the whole point of the race. Oops.

Mostly, I enjoyed all of the people who came out to their front yards and sprayed us with their hoses and sprinklers. Although it wasn't as hot I as they initially predicted, I definitely took advantage of everything I could do to stay cool. I did make a point to walk through a few of the water stops, which helped me to pause for a minute and then keep going. And the energy beans made a big difference too. There was only one time when I felt like I had to walk, and it was just for a minute or two on mile three while I worked through a side stitch.  

My official time, according to the web site was 1:49:35. Almost exactly an 11 minute pace, which I am happy with considering this is the longest distance that I have ever run, and that I was not able to finish the ten miles a few weeks ago. In my division F25-29, I was 34th of 38. I placed 647th overall, out of 725 finishers.

My mom, Chris, and our friend Ry, who was visiting, met me at the finish line. As we were leaving the race, we ran into the people from O&H Bakery, with their mascot, Ohlaf. My mom ran over, insisting that we get a picture with him. While standing with him, my mom said "Olhaf, we love you. We have your Christmas ornaments!" Haha. The girl inside the costume said thanks. 

I am very happy to have completed the race, especially now that I have had some time to relax and recover this weekend. I can't rest for too long though, because this week's schedule is:

Run 1: 3 miles
Run 2: 2 miles
Run 3: 5K
Run 4: 11 miles

Time to rest up!