Ooh my first race report as a mommy of two!!! - Possum Trot 10k

It felt like it would never get here, but I finally raced again... after, and this is no joke, 2 years off. My last race (if you could call it that, more of a totally fun and awesome experience) was muddy buddy in June of 2007. As I type it I still can't believe it!

First race back was the Chattahoochee Nature Center Possum Trot. I love the CNC and the fact that the course is fairly flat. Now, I'm not usually one to sign up for an event that is just running... I seriously need that equalizer called the swim and bike. However, I've got others to think about right now and the triathlon just isn't fitting in the schedule at the moment. Races are too far away and take too long... AJ just isn't a big enough eater of the solid food to leave him for that long.

Good friend and fellow new mommy Andrea, ran with me. It was a great morning out!! The plan was the run together and attempt 8 min miles...

The race start was very understated... there was no ready, set... just a bang and about 1000 runners looking at each other for a second like... "does that mean go? I guess so" and we were off. It was a little crowded that first mile but we clocked it in at 7:47... good pace I thought... then we clocked mile two at 7:27... I'm thinking this is too fast for me and the mental game starts, but Andrea is just cruising along so I'm trying to stay on her sholder, it feels good to pass some of the folks in front of us... cruise in to mile 3 at 22:54... probably one of my fastest 5k times... seriously. At this point I'm thinking I can't keep this pace up for around 3 miles so I slow a bit but not before relaying to Andrea one of the funniest things I've ever overhead in a race. Two guys were talking and one said to the other "so he got ahold of some bad cheese" and I don't know why but it just cracked me up at the time. I really wish I would have held it together for the rest of the race, but I just kept getting slower and slower... ended up at the end with a 49:15 time; an average pace just under the 8 min miles I was aiming for, so I have to say I'm happy with the race.

I know I have some endurance work to do, but I now have more confidence that next time, I'll make those next 3 miles at the same pace.

I always go into races thinking I'm a slow runner but I'm realizing that's just stupid... I might not be faster over 1 mile than I was when I was a "runner" but I'm definintely faster over 13 and even 6 than I was back in those high school days. and heck, I'm just psyched that I can be out there running 6.2 again, getting fun race packets, sample smoothies and most of all making memories with friends.

Thanks for running with me Dre! It was a great morning!

From Racing 2009