I Lost 6 Minutes and 23 Seconds

Imagine a nice spring morning after a night of wind and rain. What do you do with a morning like that.? Over a 1000 people decided to run! I was one of the crazy 1000.

Looks a bit like a stampede!

I started off pretty strong. Seasoned runners (of which I am not) would probably say I started off too fast. This is probably true. I was bit floored when my time at the 1 mile marker was 13 minutes. I don't believe I had ever run a 13 minute mile before in my life!

But I had exerted myself and needed to take a bit of a walk break. The rest of the race I did a combination of walking and running. I am thrilled to report that the running minutes totally out numbered the walking minutes. I would estimate that I ran 85-90% of the 4.37 miles. My walk breaks were usually 1 minute catch my breath breaks.

I knew I couldn't keep up a 13 minute mile pace. Last year at the Lake Run (my first ever race) I averaged a 14:52 mile. Even with my walk breaks, I only dropped my pace to a 13:23 mile pace! That's a pace difference of 1:29! How cool is that?

Me with one of my Catch the Wave group members.

I'm a bit red in the face but none the worse for wear!

Cyndy at the finish!

Cyndy's excitement is really how I felt! I finished in 58 minutes and 37 seconds. I lost 6 minutes and 23 seconds from last year. I got faster and had a lot more endurance! I had two goals:

• Run more than I walked
• Beat my time from last year

I count today as a major success!

Marge and Jen
Two of the people who encouraged my running this year and last.