It's All In The Stride

As most of you know I got good news from the Dr. and have started running again. It has been fun but I have been restricted in my weekly mileage and additional workouts. My sister Terra and Dad and I decided to run in a race last weekend. It was a 5k in downtown Charlotte. I thought this would be a fun bonding experience for all of us. It was a little more complicated than that though.

First came the fact that we (including Isabella, she rides in the stroller during the races) drove down to Charlotte on Friday night. Dad and I thought this would be a good idea so we wouldn't have to get up extra early race day to drive down. Isabella had plans of her own. She decided to stay up until at least midnight crying or whining or whatever. When she finally fell asleep Dad and I thought we could get some rest but we were wrong. Apparently Terra lives near a train station and much to my disappointment they do have trains at night. I woke up to train whistles at least five times as well as the drunken party on the porch below our window.

We then got up at 6 am to eat something before the race and we were off. Everyone told me how much easier it would be to run off the mountain since the oxygen level would increase. This would probably be true expect Charlotte is in danger of losing their governmental funding for roads because their air pollution is so bad. It is also a good 10 degrees hotter in the city than up here in Boone. If you add that to the fact that the humidity was very, very high it was like breathing in hot water out of the tail pipe of a car.

It seems on of the hardest things about the race was everyone passing me. I am ultra competitive and having people blow past me was really hard. I ran faster than I should have at first to try to catch up and I started to "crash" near the end. I did however finish with a pretty good time for my first race. I have another one next weekend so we'll see if it gets any easier.

Terra also convinced me and Dad to do something called the Distance Challenge. It sounds fun but totally insane. Perfect for us:) Check it out.