A Weekend of Firsts Part 1: My First 10k Race

All this past week while I’ve been on the tractor plowing for my Dad I’ve had the radio on since there’s nothing else to do when driving. I heard up to 100 times about a local heritage day celebration in the nearby town of Portales. They were advertising a 5k Fun Run and 10k for Saturday morning.

Their advertising worked on me. Saturday morning Mom and I got up to go to Portales so I could run my first 10k race. My Mom went with me and did the 5k run/walk. This is really not my best looking picture, but my Mom looks good!

For breakfast I just had a piece of wheat toast with peanut butter and a half of a banana.

I’ve known for awhile that my next race needed to be a 10k, so I knew Saturday I had to run it to see if I really want to do this half-marathon thing and if I could even run 6.2 miles.

Saturday morning was perfect race weather. It was a little overcast, cool, with a slight breeze. Perfect. The only disappointment was that there weren’t many people at all running…I’m not even going to say how many haha

The race was a 5k course and the people running the 10k just ran it twice. At first I thought oh that sucks, but once I got going I realized it would help me pace myself because I would know how much I had covered and how much further I had to go.

At 8 a.m. the race began and I was off! I kept a pretty steady pace the first 3 miles and was even close to my goal time of a 25 minute 5k. When I ran around to start on the last half of the 10k the clock said 25:18! I was super happy and that definitely motivated me to keep going like I was.

If I was just running the 5k I know I definitely could have crushed my goal time.

Once I rounded the corner I realized there was an old man behind me. That gave me the goal to stay in front of him to beat him or to stay with him say he did pass me. Luckily he stayed behind me the entire race, but definitely helped me keep up my pace.

I never really got tired to where it was taking a lot of effort to keep going. You know those runs where you just get dog tired and are thinking “this sucks” and you’re totally sucking wind.  That didn’t happen.

About half a mile away from the finish line I started to pick up my speed gradually and crossed the finish line at 52:02! I was hoping to finish at 55 minute, so I was really happy

My watch only says that I ran 5.99 miles so…I’m not really sure what to think about that. I thought I started it right where we started, but maybe I cut a few corners or something. Oh well haha

I’m also proud of my Mom because she was planning on walking the 5k, but ended up running most of it! Go Mom!

After the race there was a little awards ceremony. I got 1st place in my age division and got this nifty little medal.

And these nice long sleeve race shirts! I’m really excited about this long sleeve t-shirt. I will definitely be wearing this! (excuse my messy bed in the background)

After the race stuff was done my Mom and I went to El Ranchero to grab breakfast. They have an omelette/breakfast bar. We both had an omelette with bacon and green chile. I also got some hashbrowns, a tortilla, and some green chile sauce for dipping. It was all soooo good!

My first 10k race was a success and I’m excited to run more 10k faces!! That race was just what I needed to give me confidence in my ability to run longer distances and has put running a half-marathon in better perspective. I am now 100% sure I can run a half-marathon and am looking forward to it now.

Notice this post is titled A Weekend of Firsts Part 1. That means there will be a part 2 coming soon! It will cover my first of three wedding weekends in a row!

Did you run any races this weekend? Have you ran a 10k?