I run like a girl...

...and I'm proud of it! Yesterday (Sunday, July 13) I participated in a 10K run in Portland called Run Like a Girl. It was an all women's trail run through beautiful Forest Park in NW Portland. This was the first actual sponsored run I have done.

I was convinced to sign up for it by a group of women that I worked with at school this year. They were all really excited and said that we could all train together and it would be good motivation to get in shape for the summer. I hesitated at first because at the time 6.25 miles sounded way out of my league and I figured that a run taking place in ritzy NW Portland was going to cater to the uber-fit running crowd, and that I would feel really out of place. The girls soon convinced me saying that we would all be in this together and that all we had to do was our best, not win the race.

I didn't really start training until summer rolled around, and I kind of lost touch with the other girls. Jeff was a good motivator though. He ran with me a few times and we went on some hikes together. Then we got Owen and I was forced to exercise twice a day.

About a week before the race I decided to get in touch with the other girls to see if any of them wanted to carpool into Portland. At this point I was feeling pretty good about my running and I wasn't concerned about running with someone, but it would be nice to have a group of people there that I knew, so we could cheer each other on. Come to find out that 2 of the girls had decided not to go at all and 2 had decided to do the "untimed" race, which means that they started an hour and half before the actual race. So when the day came, I was the only one who actually ran! I almost did the early start with the other two girls, but Hannah (who was kind enough to let me stay at her place the night before. Thanks Hannah!) convinced me to do the timed run because I can run in Forest Park untimed whenever I want, but this run would be a good opportunity to see what I can do and get an official time.

I was a bit bummed about being there by myself, but once the run began I just got into the groove and wasn't concerned about being there with other people because it was a single file trail, so I couldn't run next to anybody even if I wanted to.

The trail was harder than I had expected! The first two miles were almost completely up hill. Then it evened out a bit and then there was almost two miles of down hill, which was great. I was feeling pretty good until the last mile and half. The trail came out to a paved road for a while with a slight incline and running on the pavement was hard after being on the trail for so long. Then when we got back on the trail we had to climb this terrible hill that seemed to go on forever, when in reality it was probably only a 1/4 mile. That totally wiped me out. It was the first time I had to stop and walk...but at least I wasn't alone. The trail practially bottlenecked at that point because so many women had to stop to catch their breath or were walking really slowly.

Once I got over that hill though I was able to finish strong. I averaged about 12 minute miles, which meant that it took me 1 hour and 15 minutes, which was pretty good for me considering the terrain. So all in all, I'm glad I did the run, but next year I do want to get a group together for it! So all you ladies out there, keep it in mind! There was a photographer at the run who took a bunch of photos, so I will try to post some when I get them.