Go, Mommy, Go!

The Chesapeake Bay Bridge is 4.35 miles long and rises to 186 feet above the bay. For many people, simply driving across its span causes heart palpitations, panic attacks, and worse. For others, its narrow width is intolerable only in light of the traffic congestion it causes on summer weekends. For me, it became the challenge to beat as I ran my first 10K. But before we step onto the bridge, let's review this journey.

You may remember this post from December 2015 when I'd picked up running again for the first time just four months earlier. My time for that first Run with Santa 5K was nothing stellar (33:56), but I was proud of what I'd accomplished. When I ran the same course again in March 2016 after several more months of training, I was pleased with my new personal record (28:19) but immediately set my sights on the next goal: break 28 minutes.

March 2016: Lucky Leprechaun 5K

This new goal required considerable more preparation as I knew I'd likely need to do more to train than just run three miles three days a week. After chatting with a good friend, Steph, who is a phenomenal runner herself, and after reading several articles on my own, I put myself into a regimen of interval training in the months leading up to my second Run with Santa 5K in December 2016. I even asked that (incredibly patient and gracious and encouraging) friend to join me in trying to break my personal record, and she happily agreed to pace me as I attempted to finish with the 9-minute miles required to reach my goal.

 December 2016: Run with Santa 5K

This time, not only did Jeff and Lily make it to the finish line to see us cross, but they got to witness the massive grin on my face as Steph checked her watch to report my time: 27:34. I'd trained hard, I'd proven to myself and my daughter that I could do whatever I set my mind to, and then I set my mind on my new goal of breaking 27:30 in the Run with Santa 5K, 2017 edition.

And that's when Steph stepped in with a new challenge: what about a 10K?

I've never been a distance runner--in fact, at that point, I'd never even attempted running more than 3.5 miles. I mulled over the challenge for several months: could I complete more than 6 miles? Even if I could, would I need to walk most of it? And how in the world was I supposed to do my job and be a mom and fit in a long run each week?

Not knowing the answer to any of those questions, I began to tentatively read about the Cross the Bay 10K--the one Steph recommended for my first race of a longer distance. Though the 1.7 miles uphill at the start was intimidating and the idea of participating in a race that has 20,000 entrants was overwhelming, I couldn't stand the idea that I'd back down from a challenge. And so, on March 21, 2017, I registered for the race.

Training started over the spring and summer as I tested my legs at distances up to 4.5 miles, but it wasn't until school began in September that I started to train in earnest. Five days a week, my alarm went off at 5am, and I pulled on my running gear and hoisted my workout, school, and lunch bags on my shoulder and made the pre-dawn drive to campus. Mondays were for 3-mile runs on the hilly road that leads into school, Tuesdays and Thursdays were 1-mile sprints on the treadmill followed by time on the elliptical, Wednesdays were grueling interval workouts on the track, and either Friday, Saturday, or Sunday was a distance run on the rolling hills surrounding our home. With each week that progressed, I found myself amazed that my body could take me 5, then 5.5, then finally 6 miles. Perhaps more shocking, though, was that I found I looked forward to the runs--not to the exhaustion or the early morning darkness or the seemingly endless uphills--but to the sense of accomplishment that waited at my own personal finish line each week.

"Early mornings, hard runs, long distances, discipline, race day"

In spite of all the preparation, standing in the bleachers of Navy Stadium last Saturday, holding my bib number for the next morning, I still found myself wondering quite what I'd gotten into. I'd set a ambitious goal for my first 10K: break an hour--and I just didn't know if I could do it, or if I would finish the race at all.

Nerves were at a fever pitch by the time I arrived at the start line Sunday morning at 7:45am. Unlike so many of the runners around me, I had no fancy gadgets or gear to measure my pace or chirp in my ear about distance completed. With just a simple stopwatch on my iPhone and a playlist ready to start, I stepped across the line and began my journey to "Beat the Bridge."

And beat it I did. Not exactly in the time I'd hoped (1 hour, 10 seconds was my official time), but without walking a single step and by running my hardest as I crossed the finish line.

November 2017: Across the Bay 10K

Jeff loves the photo above--he notes my feet aren't even touching the ground because I'm pushing so hard to fly across that finish. I love the photo above for a different reason: I know what I heard in this moment, and it makes me smile every time I see it.

"Go, Mommy, Go!"

Lily must have yelled it as loud as her little lungs could muster because I could somehow hear her over the other spectators, over the clanging cowbells, over the pounding chorus of "Eye of the Tiger" playing in my ear. If I'm flying in the picture, it's because that little voice was sending me some wings.

So, I did it. I didn't do it perfectly or exactly as I'd imagined, but I beat that bridge and ran my first 10K. Steph (who also ran the race but finished a ways ahead of me) is already sending me links to upcoming 10Ks, 8-milers, and half-marathons. For now, though, my sights are again set on my third Run with Santa 5K in 3 short weeks, so it's back to challenging interval training and keeping up my distance with weekly longer runs. 

I'll let you know how it goes.