Our First 10K!

Every year, Eric's company sponsors a 10K run/walk, so we decided to do it together. Eric planned on running the whole thing, but since I didn't train at all (and have never run vast distances), I figured I'd walk. Initially, Eric said he'd walk with me, but I know he loves to run, so I encouraged him to do the course on his own and wait for me at the end.

Yesterday was a beautiful morning for the event. The run didn't start until noon, so we studied a bit before heading over to Boston Common, where the race commenced. It was a bit insane, to be honest--approximately 10,000 people (mostly women, since it was an event to sponsor women's health) were filing through one staircase onto Beacon Street. When the race finally did begin, it took us about 5 minutes just to get to the starting line! Then it turned out that, though we thought we were with the walkers, we were still with the runners. Eric ran on ahead, and since I didn't want to get trampled, I thought, "Okay, well, I can surely run a little while until this breaks up."

It wound up not breaking up until halfway through the race, and I felt hugely empowered that I could keep up with the group!

Anyway, the course was beautiful--we ran across the Longfellow Bridge and then down Memorial Drive in Cambridge. We came back over another bridge and ran down Commonwealth Avenue back to Boston Common. You could see runners going on both sides of Memorial Drive, and at one point, I saw the winner zooming in the other direction and me and all the slower runners cheered her and the other faster folk along. I also saw Eric running on the other side at one point, and we both got excited when we got to wave to each other!

Eric finished about 20 minutes before I did, and he waited at the finish line for me. He was cheering me on when I got there, and it made me feel like I had the best husband in the world for believing in me and my absolutely abysmal running skills!

We both felt so proud of ourselves at the end! Eric completed the race in 52 minutes, with an average mile of 9 minutes 25 seconds, which was faster than his goal of 10 minutes! I finished with about 12 minute miles, which isn't too bad, considering that I walked about 2 miles of the course. Eric said he'd help me and maybe next year we'll run the whole thing together!

Anyway, we felt really, really proud of ourselves and proud that we supported each other for the race. We celebrated with a Cheesecake Factory trip that was kind of hilarious in its healthiness! On one side of us, a group of men got three plates of fried chicken and the fourth guy got salmon topped with French fries and onion rings! On our other side were two women who ordered avocado fried spring rolls, an avocado sandwich, and enchiladas. In between them was Eric--who ordered a salad with cranberries and feta cheese--and me--I got a salad with no dressing that had beans, corn, chicken, and pico de gallo. Then for dinner, we made ourselves fresh pasta with yummy fresh vegetables, chicken, and a balsamic glaze. We felt it was a healthy ending to our healthy day!