January 1 - To welcome in the new year and get a start on my 2012 running goals, I headed to Lowell, Massachusetts to participate in the
First Run 10K. Joining me was my running buddy Daisy, and my husband who would be running the 5K. Using VZ Navigator, we found the race location and parking easily, but getting into the registration building was like trying to buy an iPad on Black Friday! Ok, maybe not that bad, but it was super crowded. Good sign for the race (a lot of people usually means it is a good race) but harder to make those last minute rest rooms breaks and find people.
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| Cool hat and long sleeve tech shirt |
Today's race was a big festive continuation of New Year's Eve. I'm guessing at least 2000 runners turned out for both races and we were given great swag, outstanding music, and a functional starting line area with all the typical runner-needed amenities. The course was a double loop with 5Kers splitting off when 10Kers continued on to loop part 2. It was an easy course, mostly flat with one small hill and the last two miles followed the Merrimack River. The 5K portion was very crowded, but things were nice and roomy for those who kept on for the 10K.
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| Personalized bib & finisher's medal |
The last time I ran a 10K race was at home in Cincinnati. I PR'd that one with 59:08. I had no intention of trying to PR this one because the plan was for me to run the 5K with hub and then continue on. However, he encouraged me to go ahead. I ran with Daisy most of the way, but about 2 miles in I realized that I should have gotten in the port-a-potty line. Two miles later I trailed Daisy as I struggled with my very, very full bladder! This really sucked because other than that, I was having a great running day. The 10K took a small side route through a neighborhood where, if you ask me, a couple of port-a-potties would have been like finding water in the desert! Overall, I did enjoy this race and managed to PR in 58:09l!
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| Stephanie & her hub! |
Leading up to this race Bill from Daily Mile arranged a DM group meet up and
Stephanie from
Run for Fun let me know she was running and wanted to meet. I was super excited to meet fellow cyber runners for the first time. These are the other people who have what
A Veteran Runnah would call
RUNNERITIS. They are a totally fun and loyal virtual support group.
Today I was supposed to meet them IRL (in real life). I'm happy to report that I did meet Stephanie, but only briefly. She was easy to spot in her "
Crazy Bitch" running shirt. I still had to grab my race bib, so we parted ways and only saw each other again during the run. (I shamelessly stole this picture from her Twitter post). I never did find the DMer group in the massive crowd.
Appropriately named, the
First Run 10K was a day of firsts for me. First run of 2012. First race on my run-a-race-a-month goal. First time meeting a blogger friend. First time
meeting attempting to meet Daily Mile friends. First time running a race in Massachusetts (another race goal). First PR of 2012. Now if I could only take my FIRST GOOD RUNNING PHOTO!
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| Why do I wave like that?? |
How did you spend New Year's Day?
What do your running/active photos look like?
