5K For Clay

This past Saturday marked the beginning of our running season again -- the race "5K For Clay". I always use that race as the kick-off for the season by not running 1 minute before that day, and then always trying to beat my time from the year before.

The race started at 8:00 am, and Justin & the kids were all there to cheer me on (Austin even had a "Go Mom Go" sign that Justin had made that morning!). The run went OK, seeing as how I hadn't run at all in 6 months since the Austin half-marathon; I did quickly remember that my new shoes gave me blisters though, so I had major flashbacks of my 13.1 miles in downtown Austin with huge blisters on my feet & the finish line no where in sight! -ha-

I finished the race in just over 37 minutes, placing 8th in my age division. I beat my time from last year, which was my only goal for this year. I see I have lots of work to do this year since I was a little over 12 minutes a mile -- I'd like to get down under 11 minutes a mile before the half marathons in early 2010.

Round Rock Fit, our marathon training group, starts this upcoming Saturday. It's a 26-week training program to get ourselves ready for the 3M Half Marathon in January & then the Austin Marathon on Valentine's Day of 2010. I'm running with my training group again this year while Justin will stay home with the kids; he's going to train on his own, but he's still planning on running both halves with me. I have such a love/hate relationship with running, so at this moment, I'm excited about starting up again, but I know I'll hit a wall come November or December & I'll be ready to be done. But I honestly must say that finishing a half-marathon (or two) every year is definitely quite an accomplishment & we have the medals to prove it! :)