My First 10k

As I rounded the corner of South Temple onto 2nd East, running along the parade route in front of those who had camped over night to get good seats, I passed a girl who had made a sign for the runners. It said: Pain is Temporary, Pride is Forever. I had to smile as I passed it, thinking how true it was.

For me, race day is always about personal accomplishment. It's about making a goal and doing something that I had previously thought I couldn't do. And I do feel like my pride for finishing will be something I can have with me forever.

The race itself was actually pretty good. It's mainly a downhill course, which made me feel like I was doing pretty good until I got to the flat parts and realized I was kind of going slow. At about mile 1 1/2, I realized I had to go to the bathroom, but since it was my first 10k I wanted my time to be a real time. So I just powered through. Twice I stopped to walk for about 2-4 minutes, in between mile 2 and 3 and then right after I got to mile 4. I wanted to make sure I had enough energy to finish hard. And I was feeling pretty good and had really hit my stride, controlling my breathing and avoiding side-aches.

But then, right about at mile 5, it hit me.

I had a small side-ache, my feet hurt, my knees hurt. And my body sort of gave out. That last mile was brutal, and was spent with me running, then stopping to walk, then running, then walking. As I got closer to the end and could see the finish line, I felt like I couldn't go anymore. I stopped running and this guy looked at me said, "C'mon, you're SO close! You can do it!" And I knew I was SO close, so I willed my body to just go for it.

I ran across the finish line as my mom and sister cheered me on. I threw up my arms in satisfaction, as if I was the first to cross. I was sweaty and tired, but I felt awesome.