We ran the 8K

Jason and I ran an 8K yesterday. For me it was both a mental and physical challenge. We got there early and got in line so we were near the front of the pack. I wanted to be near the front so that we wouldn't have to deal with a lot of jockeying for position. This worked out well and we both got out of the main pack pretty quickly. Once this challenge was through, my mental challenge started. I started getting really bummed out because a lot of people were passing me. Jason and I had bought new watches on Friday so I knew my pace was fast (for me) since my first 2 miles were at 8 min each but I was still feeling down. It took me almost half the run to get over that and start enjoying the run for me. It also took me that long to find a good stride. The rest of the run was good. There is one point in the runwhere half the road is for going out and half the road is for coming back. It was a boring section of the run but I didn't mind b/c I just kept looking for Jason since by then he was way ahead of me and I knew he would be coming back while I was still running out. Once I saw Jason there wasn't that much further for me to go to get to the turn around point. Once I made the turn around I was more pumped since I could see how many people were behind me. This gave me the little extra push to pick up my pace a little. Jason made the run in 38min 59 seconds and I did it in 46min 25 seconds. I realized at the end that I probably could have been going faster for more of the run since I picked up the pace for the last mile and then flew through the last quarter mile. I'm very happy with my first race. Now I will know what to expect whenever I do another race. We had a really good time. We ended up walking home rather than taking the metro since it was such a beautiful day and we both needed some cool down time. We were both exhausted after the run. I was surprised at how tired I was since I have been running that distance in the mornings without feeling that tired. I guess adding the mental component and going a little bit faster just exhausted me. Today we are going to watch part of the marathon. It will be fun to watch part of the marathon today and know that we aren't running it! I am going to be working at the water station at the 5th and 35th kilometer point from 1pm-2pm today but other than that I think Jason, the kids and I will just be enjoying the beautiful day today.