It's kind of the perfect setting for a morning run. 500 people dressed in their favorite running gear, lined up at the Starting line to begin the first run of the year. All ages, all sizes and shapes, a collective group brought together as a part of a New Year's resolution with big grins across their faces and the adrenaline in the air. The airhorn sounds off and like a rat race, everyone begins running up the first hill to race in a 3.2mi, 5k run.
For the less experienced (such as myself), this is the perfect crowd to complete this with. There are the people who race by you to complete each mile in 4 minutes. They are the ones we laugh at and say, "can you imagine??" but secretly are inspired and wish it was us. And then there's the group of people who have never run before in their life, are overweight but determined to complete this run. Good for them! If they can do this, so can I. Mother's pushing their strollers along the canal, older generations, people with disabilities but pushing forward. And then there's us, in the middle, thinking we are going to complete the 3.2 miles in about 40 minutes, and SHOCKED when we cross the finish line at only 32 minutes! We finished as 213 and 214 out of the 500.
The first mile was a difficult start as it began uphill. Thankfully, that terrain didn't last long as it took us 11 minutes to finish. The second mile seemed like a breeze compared to Thursday's 2 mile lunch run. We were all prepared to push it for the finish when it was suddenly there already. And the amazing thing is we both could have run farther! Suddenly, a 6.2 mile in the near future doesn't seem that far off.
This was a fantastic and inspirational way to start both the New Year and my resolution to get to the 1/2 Marathon by the end of the year. I am so proud of us and so excited for our accomplishment! While I think I could have pushed and done it on my own, I was so happy to have such a wonderful running partner and friend to experience this with instead.
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