Vulcan 10K Run

Let me start off by saying that I had the alarm set for me to get up at 5:30AM, but I don't know if I was excited or what, I got up at 4:something, and couldn't get back to sleep so I went ahead and got up. I felt good, not rushed, and I was ready to run today. The air was crisp and cool, the sky had no clouds, it was a good running day. I went out to downtown Birmingham at about 7:15, which gave me plenty of time to register for the race and get ready to start. After registering, I even found a few friends of mine from church, so we chatted and moved together to the starting line and chatted some more. I was telling them about how the last time I did Race for the Cure, which was last year, I finished that 5K race in about 45 minutes, so I figured with 10K I should be done in about an hour and a half. Whatever, didn't put much thought into my speed, it was still up to me to finish the race. M.S. says, "I hope to finish this race in under an hour", and K. says, "Yeah, I hope to finish in less than 50 minutes." I was standing over to the side of them like, "REALLY?", I mean, seriously, in less than an hour? They both reassured me that I will probably do much better than I think, and okay, this is my first time to do the 10K, so maybe I will.

The gun went off, and we were off. K rushed way ahead of us, and eventually M.S. waved and she was off too. That's cool though, because I run better alone, since if I talk too much I get winded. I don't think the race had been going on for 2 minutes when I tripped on some crack, in these fine Birmingham city streets, and stumbled, the whole time thinking, "I won't fall...don't fall..." and I tipped over like a tree chopped down in the woods, total face plant. My hands caught me though, so I didn't land on my face, just hands, knees, elbows and hip. A man running behind me rushed up to help me up, made sure I was okay and was off running. I started walking trying to compose myself, I was okay, and started running again, just worked my way through the pain and I was off again. My hands were skinned and my knees were too, but my pants weren't torn, so I saved myself of further embarassment. Eventually, I thought that I should stop running because my knees did hurt, so I walked most of the way. I finished the race in just under an hour and a half, and I wasn't dead last, but I think I was a bit behind the middle of the pack too.

I got home soon after I finished the race and all I wanted to do was take a shower and get clean and then lay down and watch football. While in the shower I saw that I was bleeding and bruised on all those areas I fell, which I think is what made me hurt worse, but now a few hours later I feel much better and more proud of myself. I am so glad I didn't cry after falling and I am glad I finished, even with the early fall, and I will continue to train and be marathon-ready by 2010.

I want to say a big "thank you!" to the nice gentleman that helped me up, and also to Mother Nature, "I'm sorry that I threw away that plastic bottle today."