Racing

My mom and I completed the Charlottesville Women's 4-Miler yesterday morning. It's a 30-year tradition here, with all funds raised benefiting the UVA breast care center (both for patient care and research). I finally ran it for the first time last year, despite having lived here since 2003, and my mom did it with me this year. There is a 12-week summer training program that helps women get in shape for it, and we did it every Saturday that we were in town this summer. It was hot and humid, but running with others always helps me go farther. Getting an early morning break from the kids helps too. 

I also tried my best to run every Tuesday and Thursday morning. Jason and I decided to commit to specific exercise days, in which the one who is not exercising has to get up with the kids. It has helped us stay on a schedule and be more consistent about exercise. I had taken a break from running all winter, so I didn't really start to get back into it until May/June.

So, after a long summer of training, my mom and I got up early yesterday and were chauffeured to the race site by my dad. It's crowded and you have to get there early to park, then wait around for the race to start. It was humid, and by the time the race started it was raining - a nice light summer rain - it actually felt good and helped to cool us down.

The course felt easier to me this year - maybe it was because of all the hills we had to run in training, or maybe I'm in better shape, or maybe the rain helped. I don't know. But I do know I beat last year's time, which was my main goal. The toes on my left foot always get squished by mile 3 though - I need to get that figured out.

Here are my stats:
My 2012 "gun time" was 45:15, chip time was 44:02, placed 1139 out of 3500 overall, placed 150 out of 339 in my age group. 

By comparison, my "gun time" last year was 49:39 and I placed 1498 out of 3500 (no available stats on chip time or age group place). I'm movin' on up. 

One more comparison - the 21-year-old winner finished in 22:49. that will never be me. oh well.

My mom walked the course (easier on her knees than running), and these were her stats:
"gun time" of 1:06:05, "chip time" of 1:01:37, placed 2431 overall, and 27 out of 47 in her age group. Way to go MeMe!

Here are pictures of us before and after the race.

We are ready!

We did it!

I can't wait till my girls are old enough to do the training program and run the race with me (there are lots of mother-daughter pairs in the race), and I hope that by the time they're grown up they don't have to worry about raising funds to fight breast cancer!