Fort4Fitness 10K

There is a distinct possibility this will be a long post. But please, please, please stick with me? I promise to make it worth your while.

Saturday was my 10K...the event you've been hearing about for weeks...MONTHS...now. And you've been so patient. I was careful to document the entire day so I could show you everything!! Let's start with breakfast, shall we? This is yours truly at 5 something in the morning ON A SATURDAY carbing up for the big race. Omelets...toast...coffee...and a huge side order of nerves!!!

 I could NOT have ordered a more beautiful day for this race!!! It was a perfectly sunny, blue sky sort of day...a little chilly, but honestly I'd rather have a little chilly over blasted hot. This is Parkview Field, the minor league baseball field in Fort Wayne...and the site of the finish line!

 Remember way back in the day when I told you I was coerced into this adventure by my co-worker? Meet my co-worker. This is Jeri. Her office is next to mine at work and she is a sweetheart! She was so encouraging to me as we trained. Jeri is a better runner than I, and her goal was to run the 10K in under 60 minutes. And in this pre-race photo, she was SO nervous!

 And you know how I've been telling you that I have a running partner? Yep, I'd like you to meet him. This is my running partner, Ryan. :)

 The starting lineup was just outside Parkview Field, and this is the view from Corral G. Up ahead...the blue and white thing...was the starting line. Interesting factoid about my training - other than running with Ryan, I'd never run with another soul around. Boy was THIS a change of pace!!!

 This smile is my "please don't let me die, Jesus" smile.

 And we're off! There were something to the tune of 10,000 runners all the races on Saturday. (There was a mini-marathon and a 4 mile walk as well.) Not sure how many were in our race, but um, it felt like all 10,000 were right there!!

 Running partner...jacket carrier (once it got too hot for me to wear mine)...AND photographer extraordinaire. That was Ryan's job during this race. And he did it splendidly. Don't I look like a real runner girl?

 Why in the world I think it's a good idea to post a photo of this angle on the world wide web, I'm sure I'll never know.

 Small walking break. This was toward the end...I had to walk the hills. Oh yes. There were hills. Sweet mercy. I thought I'd die.

 Back to running! Woops - this one was really from the beginning. Know how I know? Still wearing the jacket. Well, I never claimed to be chronological.

 Once we got to the very end of the race, we ran into the field and around the outfield...running across home plate as the finish line. By this time I was nearly dying. Okay not really. But it definitely felt that way. I'd asked Ryan not to tell me my time as we went along because I knew I'd get frustrated and discouraged if it wasn't good. So I had no idea how I was doing.

 In the upper right hand corner, you can see two blue pillars...that was the finish line. Then we crossed into the big tent where they had all kinds of water and snacks. WILL RUN FOR COOKIES!!!! And I did.

 The jumbotron where you could watch people cross the finish line. That was pretty cool. It was on TV too but obviously I couldn't watch that AND run at the same time.

Jeri finished in 59 minutes. I WAS SO PROUD OF HER!!!!! I finished in 1:07:52 and I was so proud of that too!!!! And when we made it across the line - we both had flowers waiting on us from the ladies at work. I adored that.

 The WBCL ladies. Sheryl and Jill are in pink and came just to cheer for Jeri and me. That meant so much to me!! And in blue is Diane, who was working for the station at the race. Love all these girls. I have the best co-workers! (Diane even prayed for all of us before the race!)

 And here I am with Ryan, post-race. And hopefully you're still reading this too-long-for-any-good-reason blog, because I have some extra news for you that I think you'll find pretty exciting. I've been waiting to tell you this news...Ryan and I are dating! YES! You read that right! Your Bekah's Bits girl has a boyfriend and a whole great story to tell you in the days to come. I'm so excited!

 And if you haven't passed out by either 1) sheer exhaustion or 2) the aforementioned news, allow me to close with this picture, which is me with my 10K medal. This smile is one of a girl who did something she never EVER thought she could do in 10 billion years. And I was so excited that I not only survived (my main goal) (okay my ONLY goal) - but I did a really good job. And I got to share the whole experience with Ryan, which was a really great blessing I never even knew was coming my way when I signed up to do this thing.

Come back tomorrow? I have more fun stories. :)