One of my favorite things about yoga is when you thank yourself for giving yourself time and giving back to yourself.

Saturday’s race, my “January” race, was the the running equivalent.

Some of the battles I’ve been fighting lately have nearly wiped me out.  I’ve let training runs slip by the wayside as temps dropped outside and stress built up inside.  Having the race on the calendar this month was a big  motivator to get out of bed and really push myself.  My husband even went the extra mile and even signed up to run with me. I had a wonderful friend and her husband sign up to run, too, and it was all the more motivation to hold my resolution.

It was cold on Saturday morning when we woke up, and the wind was biting.  We headed down to Tech High School to pick up our packets and get ready to race.  I got to test out my fancy new GPS watch and heart rate monitor during the race, which was a fun addition.

We started off and I wasn’t sure what kind of intervals I wanted to do during the race.  I hadn’t been training well enough to race the whole time, so I was planning on just enjoying the race, the scenery and the cheering.  I was excited to have the time to spend running, the time to spend on myself.

At right around mile one I picked up a 3-1 interval, and my friend along the way.  We ran a 3-1 the rest of the way to average a 12:34 pace.  It was windy, but it was a good solid January race, considering I ran it without much of any training.  I’m excited to push forward in the next races and fast forward that pace after some real training.

The race was good, but what made it the best was spending time with friends and family.

January Race
3.1 Miles
12:34 pace
39:05 total time