Hot Cider Hustle 10K

It's been awhile since I've laced up a pair of running shoes, but an advertisement for the Hot Cider Hustle on facebook caught my attention, mostly because of the free hoodie promised to all registrants.  I sent out an email and actually got some interest from a few friends, and so I signed up.  The race offered a 5K, 10K and 15K, and I optimistically registered for the 10K, along with Sarah and Paula, while Dan, Sloan, Regal and Dave all signed up for the 5K.  I was excited for the group event, and more importantly, the post-race brunch that was sure to follow.

Orange theory!  I'm just to the right of the instructor who's holding the sign.

Now, when I say it's been awhile since I've put on my running shoes, I don't mean it's been a few weeks, or even a month.  I mean I cannot remember the last time I went out for a run!  Literally, I have been on the couch for months, from taking a break after Ironman to dealing with some back issues and life getting in the way.  Recently, I signed up for orange theory, a kind of interval training class where you spend time on the treadmill, the rower and floor strength exercises.  I do that twice a week, so those 20-25min sessions on the treadmill are the only run/walk training I have had lately.

It was a little chilly race morning and I felt that I had dressed inappropriately for the weather.  Sarah even said she had to scrape frost off her windshield - yikes!  I drove to RFK stadium and was forced to park a half mile away thanks to my lack of cash and the $15 parking fee (only one lot allowed credit cards).  I made a mental note to count the extra mile round trip as calories burned - that means one extra breakfast riesling!

Teammates Stacy and Beth (who you'll remember from the SwimFest).

I picked up my race number and free hoodie, and it didn't take long to find Sloan and Regal.  I also ran into a couple Team Z-mates and we hung out for a bit.  Sarah and Dave, and eventually Paula met up with us, though there was still no word from Dan...hmm...

Me, Regal, Sloan's dad (who got 2nd place age group!), Sloan, Dave and Sarah

We were off!  I'm not sure where the rest of our crew was in the photo below, but us three girls started off together.  It didn't take Sarah long to separate herself from us though, and then it was just Paula and I chugging along.  We ran about 0.8 mile before suggesting that we take a walk break.  The course went around the perimeter of RFK stadium, and was only marked with orange cones.  At one point we noticed that the crowds in front of us were cutting off a huge portion of the course as the cones were way to our left.  We came to get in the full 6.2 (or at least 3.1) miles, and decided to run along the cones.  A quick glance behind us and we noticed that a ton of people followed our lead - go us!

Paula and I didn't have any set run and walk intervals, so we made little goals for ourselves... OK, let's start running at that big tree and see if we can make it all the way to the water stop... Now, we'll run to the underpass but only until we get to that person sitting on a chair cheering... It worked.  As we came upon the finish line, we had both already determined that we were going to do the full 10K that we had signed up for.  After all, we were going to brunch and wanted to burn those extra calories!  We saw Sloan and Regal cheering as they had already finished their 5K, and we fought the temptation to run across the finish line and instead plodded our way to the turn around for the second half of our race.

The second half was much like the first, making small run and walk goals for ourselves.  We passed Sarah as she was heading into her final mile, and I realized my clothing choices were perfect, I was never too hot or too cold.  Paula and I kept at it and slowly made our way past the water stop and on our way to the finish.  I love that Paula and I are similar paces and I had a run buddy for the entire race.  We crossed the finish line, gave each other a high five, met back up with Sarah and Dave, and collected our mug and cider.

Dan never made it to the race, but he did join us for brunch before I went home and collapsed on the couch for the remainder of the day.  My body reminded me of just how little I had trained, and I realized Sunday morning that signing up for an orange theory class the day after the race was probably not my best idea.  But.. I got through it, and proud of myself for having such an active weekend.