First race of the summer!



The triumphant 10K runner!


Over Father's Day weekend, Andrew and I ran the Annapolis Striders' annual Father's Day 10K, which is part of their Champ Series. This was my third time running the race, but it was Andrew's first time. In fact, it was his first 10K ever!

I encouraged Andrew to sign up for this race after he stunned me by signing up for the Annapolis 10-miler in August. We had a conversation on April 30th that went like this:

Alicia: Remind me to sign up for the A10 tomorrow morning, okay? It sells out fast.
Andrew: I think I might sign up too.
Alicia: WHAT?!
Andrew: I have a wedding to look good for.

Given that Andrew had never run more than a 5K, I was both surprised and impressed by his decision. I was also a little worried. I've never managed to actually run the A10 (thank you, appendicitis and Hurricane Irene), but I know it by reputation. I also have plenty of experience with the terrain and weather that give it that reputation. It is a hilly, hot race with a pretty strict 12 minute/mile cutoff. A very ambitious race for a running beginner.

As soon as Andrew signed up for the race, I went into bossy coach mode. "You need to run 10K's," I said. "Soon. At least two before the A10, and the hillier and hotter the better." The Father's Day 10K doesn't deliver on the hills, but in my experience, it delivers on the heat. For the past two years, this race has served as my annual initiation into summer running.

I wish I could say we trained adequately for this race, but- as I've mentioned ad nauseum in my last few posts- we've been pretty busy. Ever since TriRock in late May, I've shifted my focus from training to wedding planning, and Andrew has followed my lead. When we lined up for the race on June 17th, I was all too aware of our training lapse and I had two big worries: (1) that Andrew would have an awful time and hate me for dragging him into running, and (2) that, for the first time, I would finish a Champ Series race slower than the previous year. Actually, the second fear was pretty much a certainty, so I developed sub-fears that I would finish way behind my previous time and that I would realize my time was bad during the race, lose heart, and give up.

I am happy to report that things went better than expected. Mother Nature gave us a gift of unseasonably cool temperatures on race day, which significantly reduced our misery. Andrew did not finish as strongly as he would have liked, but he finished and I was super proud of him! The fact that Andrew was running his first 10K gave me the heart to do the best I could, even though I knew I wouldn't achieve the time I wanted. Last year, I ran the race in 1:01:37. This year, it took me 1:03:28. So, a bit of a drop, but not as bad as I had feared. Even better, I felt pretty good for most of the race. This gives me hope for the remainder of my summer training and my fall races.

Next up: Andrew and I will both run the Arbutus 4th of July 10K for the first time. This race promises to be the ideal A10 training race: HOT and relentlessly hilly. I'm prepared for it to be a bit of a reality check, but we all need those sometimes, right? A tough race may be just what we need to put down the save-the-dates for awhile and pick up our running shoes again!