10K Big Bird Race Recap and Racing Again!

I don’t think I’ll ever lose my competitive side.  It must be innate, because through three pregnancies in three years, I could have EASILY lost it among the gazillion diaper changes, unlimited messes to clean up, and no time to even shower on a daily basis, let alone train for a race…but I still got it!

While I did train a bit between and during pregnancies, it’s been a bit too long this time around for me to not have a consistent race/training schedule.  Being a part of an inspiring triathlon club (at this point that basically means just reading Facebook posts about all the ambitious athletes and their training endeavors) and having a husband that enjoys staying active and competing in races sure is helping to get my butt back in gear.

Double jogging strollers sure help.  You’ll often see me pushing these cuties while my oldest son is in preschool 3 mornings per week.  That’s until the snow hits, then its solo running for me or the dreadmill.

This past weekend I completed my first race in over a year and it felt beyond fantastic!  It was the Big Bird 10K Race.  The start line was about two miles from my house and started at 10:15 am (#1 and #2 reasons why I chose this race).  No, I was not going to PR (personal record), but boy was I going to give it all I had! I convinced my sister, Lindsay, to sign up for the race (this would be her first 10K after she completed her first half marathon in the spring which we were originally going to run together before I was sidelined with an injury).

We had perfect weather on race day, especially for November.  I felt great for most of the race, and even thought I may finish in under an hour.  Well, my official time was 1 hour and 37 seconds – much faster than I expected so I was content.  And out of eleven 10K’s I have completed, this was my 5^th fastest time (PR is 53:59:00 — pre-children).  Not too shabby considering the amount of training I have been doing recently.

I’m just thrilled that I competed in a race FINALLY.  Sometimes you just need a restart button (or race) to get things in motion again.  And although my times are far from it, my ultimate goal is to qualify for the Boston Marathon some day.  As an inspiring and motivational blog (Sparkle.Pounce) often promotes – DO WHAT YOU DREAM!  That’s exactly what I plan to do!