finished!

(me crossing the finish line; Byron taping and Bob talking too)

I finished the Palo Alto 10K tonight! :)

I'm still not quite sure of my time--it was definitely faster than last year, but probably not as fast as my first one four years ago.

This is the 10K I am most proud of. It is the first one where I didn't feel like I was going to die when I crossed the finish line. In fact, the last 1.2 miles wasn't bad at all. I kept expecting myself to feel really bad at the end, but I actually finished quite energetic and happy. I really like running at night, and I also enjoy this trail so much more than the other two I've done. We ran along the 101 freeway (between Embarcadero and San Antonio) for two miles, and then headed east to cross through the bay. It was pretty dark the whole way. I kept trying to keep up with different people who had head lights. There was an amazing view of the moon--I wish I had a camera to take a picture of it!

I'm just so happy to have ran the whole way and to have finished. I went into this race the least prepared physically and mentally--I was pretty lazy these past two weeks and just didn't train as well as before. I ate poorly and only ran 5 miles once beforehand. I was also feeling a little under the weather this past week. AND it was raining 45 minutes before the race started! So I was really tempted to bail...but I'm glad that I did it. It was actually pretty fun. God really enabled me--whenever I felt tired, I would pray that God give me strength to keep going. The best part is at the end, when you see your hubby and friends rooting for you (thanks, Bob, for coming!). And now whenever I wear the t-shirt below, I will be reminded that I did it!