Goal #1: Accomplished

It hit me a few months ago that just maybe, the actual 1/2 marathon shouldn't be my first race.  

I've raced in a few 5ks, but its been way over 15 years and its been over 13 since I've raced on a track. 

I wanted to get one (or hopefully two or three) under my belt before the big one in September.   I originally planned on racing in the famous Peachtree Road Race, but then a few things came up and it was looking like I would for sure be at the beach with my family, so I started looking for an replacement. 

Luckily, I found a Independence Day 8k being held about 30 minutes south of where we stay and decided to set my sights on that one.   

I then proceeded to con convince my cousin KP to sign up with me. 

We had to get up extra early to make it to the race, but it was so worth it and we made sure to show up with our game faces on.

KP's boyfriend Andy made sure to get the money shot of me.

 

 (Obviously, I was happy to have made it to the potty and I have no clue why my hat is so crooked the entire morning) 

We ended up running together the whole way and came in at 51:14. We both were pretty proud of our finish time being it was our first road race (her official first, my first as an adult).  Our only goal was to finish and we obviously accomplished that.  We were actually pretty proud of the fact we ran the entire course. 

It was a fun first race since it was big and well organized, but not too big (just over 750 runners).  It was a great way to get a little race experience under my belt. Or I guess I should say, refresh my race experience.

We celebrated with chowing down on the free Krispy Kreme donuts at the finish line. 

 

(I had already scarfed mine down by this point)

Like most other runners, it totally made me catch the racing bug.  I may or may not have spent the rest of the morning searching up coming races.  

KP and I were laughing just after the race at how we felt like we were about to die just moments before, however just twenty minutes later, we were ready for more.  

And that's what I love about running. 

In case your interested and in the Myrtle Beach area, here is more info on the Independence Day 8k.