My First 10K Race

You can see me at the start of the race in the above video from about 17 seconds on. Watch me wave and then run dorkily away! I completed the race in 64:48, which was so much better than I expected... my goal was to be under seventy minutes, and I made it under sixty-five! So I was pretty pleased with the results.

It was a super fun day, too! Before the race I was a bit confused, and it was sort of hard to figure out where to go to pick up my chip and such. I wound up having to jog to the starting line, where I then got to stand for a few minutes while all the fast people filed through. The first three kilometers were on Margit Island, and it was nice and shady. After that we went up onto Arpad bridge and then south along the river on the Pest side. It was hot there for sure! When I got to the water station around kilometer six I just sort of threw the water at my face. (I must admit it gave me a perverse, law-breaker sort of a thrill to throw the cup onto the ground when I finished... someone cleaned them all up, don't worry!) Kilometer seven was a nightmare because it was just a loop, and I knew I would have to do it again on the way back! Plus, when I got onto the island I thought I saw the kilometer nine marker, but when I got closer I realized it was just a bus stop and the actual marker was a few hundred meters further. The last kilometer was actually super easy, and I managed to pick off quite a few people on the way in (and got picked off by a few as well!).

Immediately after stopping the race I felt really wobbly, and got a bit of a head rush, but just a minute or so later I felt fantastic. That's the joy of endorphines, I guess. I'm still just so pleased. I did it. I ran without stopping for over an hour! It's insane.

A big THANK YOU, too, to David and Barbara, who came out to support me/hold my stuff/take photos and video/give me water at the end. That's Barbara greeting me down there. I felt so loved! A thank you also to Anna for talking me into signing up to run the thing, and hopping down stairs with me today (Anna ran, too). You guys rock.

finished