Columbus 10K!

June 12 was my 24th birthday!  To celebrate Jerry and I ran the Columbus 10K!  The weather couldn't have been any better.  It was about 70 degrees and it was overcast for part of the race.  I was so hyped up and excited for this race.  Not to mention I just love my birthday and I love running so it was the perfect day for me! 

This is right before the start.

The start was at COSI which is a kids science museum so for the start they blew up a big balloon until it popped.  And...we're off!  During the first part of the race I was talking to a girl about the course because she told me she had run this race 4 times.  She said the hill at the beginning was the only one and it was down hill for the last two miles.  Let me tell you, she lied!  There were lots of hills and I felt every bit of them because I was pushing my pace.  The course was absolutely beautiful!  Downtown Columbus is really pretty and a lot of it was in the shade.  We finished off the last couple miles on the bike trail.

My goal for this race was to keep about an 8:00-8:15 min/mile and I ended up doing better than I thought!  I ended up re-evaluating my goal when I felt comfortable running less than 8:00 min/mile.  I ended up keeping an average 7:43 min/mile and finishing in 47:53.  Definitely a PR for me! 

After I finished, I grabbed my camera and waited on my hubby.  This was Jerry's first race and I'm so proud of him!  He trained hard and did even better than he thought he would.  Here he is coming up on the finish.

...and there he goes finishing in 1:06!  He said he felt great the whole time and loved the race.

Here's some pics from after the finish.

They served pancakes after the race so Jerry and I grabbed some and sat down during awards.  They were calling the women's 20-24 age group, and surprise!  In 4th place came my name.  Whoa, I wasn't expecting that!  I got a water bottle and a glass that said, "age group hero".  It was a great surprise!

It was the best birthday!  I'm really excited about doing more 5 and 10K races this summer and seeing what I can do with some shorter races.  What are your upcoming races?  I hope you all are enjoying your summer!

Leah B.