Greater Hartford 1/4

This was my second race of the year, the first being a miserable 4 miler in the pouring rain and high winds with an injured leg.  The Greater Hartford 1/4 was the complete opposite.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day, sunny and my leg felt like a million bucks. Insert mad props to my PT guru, Alex, and the Kinesio Tape here.

No lie, I was wicked nervous.  I'd never run with this many people before, there were 500 people registered! I just wanted to finish.  I wanted to have a pretty solid race and finish - with other people behind me. I had heard that there were some hills on the course so I was nervous about that, but they weren't that bad!

The first lap around, about three miles or so, wasn't as bad as I was expecting.  There were some rolling, gradual hills, but nothing I couldn’t handle.  I remember thinking, “I’ve run worse hills than this, dude, I’m actually gonna make it!"  Scott, thanks for running the first lap with me!! It was easier than I expected!

The second lap was a little tougher.  I was getting a bit tired.  I had to stop to stretch my leg twice because I could feel it cramping up on me, but there was no way I wasn’t going to finish this.  When I came down the hill at mile 6 and saw the 10k marker in my sights I wanted to cry, but I figured that took up too much energy so I just kept going.  I felt like I was going to throw up as I was headed toward the finish line, but I’m pretty sure that’s a good thing – means I put forth 100% right??  I finished with a time of 1:11.11 an overall place of 392/469 and 11^th out of 25 in the Athena division. 

This was the most fun I’ve had running yet.  I don’t know if it was because it was such a nice day and the excitement of the race or what, but I REALLY enjoyed it out there today and mid-race I had an epiphany that this is the BEST thing to come out of my RNY.  I love running.  I’m not super fast and I’m not going to be winning any awards anytime, but I like it so it's all good.

Woo Hoo,

Congrats on having such a great day.
I hope all your races produce this same happy feeling for you.
Win, lose, fast or slow, I hope they all produce smiles for you.

thanks for sharing the race report with us.

Scott

Katie,
Welcome to my world.  You did so great.  It is definitely not about where you place or how fast you go, but just the feeling of participating and finishing that makes these races so special.  Goota love the spider tape.  I am actually on day 7 with tape today, and gokng for a run today.  Enjoying the run makes it all worth the hard work!
Rob 

Congratulations! You're an inspiration.  :-)

Jenny

Awesome job Katie. I have to say that the hill was not as big as I remembered. Glad you brought it home! Keep up the good work.

 way to go!   I am thinking of doing the hartford full marathon in the fall as my next big goal...

Way to go!! Sounds like a great time!!

Great job, Katie!

Yep, that's what it's all about.  Those are some of my favorite things about running.  When it's good, there's nothing better!

Linn 

Awesome job Katie!!  Proud of ya!!

Great Job Katie!!! It's awesome that Scott was there to help support you, great stuff! Congrats on a great race, a great result, and here's to many more races!!!