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Dangerous Wonder
Mar. 15, 2009
100% Irish For A Day
I loved being 100% Irish for a day! The wind blowing through my hair, as I ran through the enchanted fields of clover looking for the end of the rainbow with that silly leprechaun taunting me....
Yesterday I raced my first 5k (3.1 miles). It was an Irish for a Day 5K and apparently, everyone who participates gets to be 100% Irish for the day! My hubby, who has been training all winter to get ready for an Ironman this coming fall wanted to race it in style. So he pulled on his Irish soccer socks, Official Ireland soccer jersey and his not so Irish (Scottish) but close to Irish kilt. He looked awesome!
 After race at Blazer's house.
As for me, I just went with a green pullover.
I was nervous, but excited all at the same time. I had been training for the past 4 weeks and pretty much knew how it was going to feel. I knew I wasn't going to be walking it, because I had ran the distance earlier in the week on the treadmill. I just didn't know what to expect as far as humongous group starts and how that all worked.
I soon found out that the first 1/2 mile is dodging people running slower, people walking, people running with strollers or dogs...it was an adventure! My biggest thing to dodge however were all the icy patches on the trail. While the day before had warmed up enough to get most of the snow melted off the sidewalks, the morning of had some very slippery icy patches. I was just thankful it was 34 degrees and not below freezing!
I soon realized that as I was approaching mile marker 1 that it hadn't even felt like I had run a mile yet and when I hit mile 2 I could hardly believe how great I was feeling! Running outside is so much better than on a treadmill.
 Hubby sprinting to the finish in his fast kilt!
As I approached the end of the race, my hubby and his running buddy Blazer (who had already finished in 20 minutes) came back to keep me company for the last push. I was so glad to see them, but also was challenged because they did push me in their "slow pace." I'm so glad they did that because I really did need that encouragement to push it up that last hill. I was feeling so good by the last 100 meters that I was able to sprint it.
 Me, hubby and Blazer after the race and ready for breakfast!
I was very happy with my time (33:56) considering that I was so far back in the swarms of people where you're not really running till things get spread out. My goal was to be under 35 minutes and I did that! Next time I know not to get stuck in the back with the dogs and the walkers. It was a wonderful experience and I'm so glad I did it! I can't wait till I do another one!
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Comments
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Posted by
Anonymous 
Mar. 15, 2009 - U R Awesome!!