Airport Run For Hope

I ran the Airport Run For Hope again this year on September 17th, put on by the Arlington Runner's Club. They have a 5k and 10k race- I did the 10k race again : ) Really, it's longer, but there's less people who do the 10k so there's a greater chance of me placing well in this small of a race (really, that's my selfish reason for doing this race that's supposed to be for charity!)

There were 121 runners this year- the goal of the club was to break 100 this year- so yay! for ARC. Only 36 of those were 10k racers. (See? Smaller group, higher chance of winning!) Here we all are getting a course description (follow the trail, chalk arrows and the people pointing you in the right direction). I'm at the front- the only race where I feel confident being up at the front and not the middle of the pack. : )

It's not a bad trail around the airport. There's some "nature" to run through but there are a few spots where you come out and run next to the road. Here's where Dale could finally come and see me. He missed me coming at mile 4 so he had to speed ahead to take a picture.

Another spot where we go off the trail and run on the road/parking lot. Brighton was really sad that morning, even crying, that she wasn't running this race with me. I'm thinking I've got to find her a little fun run, like 1 mile or something because she wants to run in a race so badly. She was a great cheerleader though!

There I go! I was all by myself almost the entire run. I kept up with all the men until they hit mile 2 and everyone took the fork in the trail because they were doing the 5k. There were 2 more men I could see way ahead of me who were doing the 10k, but I wasn't really sure how many people were ahead of me.

Sprinting to the finish (the runner behind me in the white shirt is a 5k racer).

Finished! I finished in 46:08. My goal was to beat my time from last year which was 50:59, so almost 5 minutes better.

Race Stats:

36 10k runners

18 men and 18 women

I took 6th place overall

I won FIRST PLACE for the WOMEN!

Yes, I just won my very first trophy. Brighton kept telling me how she was so proud of me. Man, I love my children.

A picture with my kids. I'm so glad that they get excited about going to my races and cheering me on. Mason gets in the car and says, "Run... Race... Run... Race..." And I love how B is getting excited and asks me if she can be in a race, too.

Then, I was tired, so we fell over. What a great way to start my day!