A Dose of a Race Recap...

On April 20th me and a few friends ran Pat's Run in Tempe, AZ. If you're not familiar, it's a 4.2 mile run that honors Pat Tillman who was a former Arizona Cardinals football player (and ASU Sun Devil!). He left a lucrative contract to join the Armed Forces after the events of 9/11 and sadly, died in Afghanistan in 2004. His family created the Tillman Foundation in memory of his legacy and achievements and now the race draws over 35,000 participants! This was actually my first year running the race and it was so much fun. We saw hundreds of runners honoring Boston (I wore my yellow and blue!) as well as firefighters and members of the military running in full gear. The race included everyone from moms with strollers, wheelchair participants, kids and serious racers. All coming together for the same cause...overall, it was just a really inspiring day! 

Pre-Race group photo! Starting line. 

The Saturday before the race I actually tweaked my foot and had some major swelling and only ran once that week. :( Of course I was a lil nervous about how it would feel and so since it was Lisa's first race I decided I would run with her. I really had no idea what kind of pace she would be running but I'm glad we decided to duck into a closer starting corral. We had a really good start! No trampling over people..or getting trampled! Lisa was running great and I had no pain in my foot! At about the last half mile there was a major hill and sure enough the foot started to feel it bad. But we ended up finishing strong!

 Congrats on a great first race Lisa! (Sporting my blue (for Boston) Pro Compression socks...which I really think helped with the foot situation!)

 Time 39:07 Pace 9:19 (Nick also had a great run with a time of 29:08!)

Unfortunately, my foot has been feeling the effects since then. I took a few days off but I only could manage a lousy 2 miles last week. It's making me slightly worried since my half is only 5 wks away. I'm sure the foot will be fine in a couple more days but it's kinda a bummer when an injury throws you off your training game. :( Cross your fingers for me!

Boston...

When I started running not too long ago, it was something I sorta dreaded and at that time, something I was just doing to "get in shape". But slowly I began throwing around the idea of possibly signing up for a race in the future...like waaay future. I decided though, I needed a goal to work towards to keep me on track so after a couple of 5k races I went out on a limb and signed up for a half marathon..a complete surprise to everyone around me! And you know what, these past few months I've developed a fondness for the sport of running that I never thought was possible. Like, ever. For me, it's the satisfaction that comes from knowing it's just you, and only you, who's responsible for getting out of bed every Saturday morning, or lacing up after a hard day at work, and pushing yourself to complete those miles or minutes even when your body may not feel like it can. It's knowing that you've pushed your body further than you thought possible. That "runners high" they speak of, well it exists and it's a fantastic feeling. Now here I am, 3 days after the tragic events in Boston and 6 weeks away from my first half marathon and I'm filled with an even greater love for running and it's community. I have a whole new motivation for June 2nd. So from here on out, my miles are for Boston.

For more info and to join me:

http://ireport.cnn.com/topics/957645

Log your miles here.

http://www.charitymiles.org/

4.09 Mi in honor of Boston.
*(4 hrs 09 mins was the time on the clock when the first explosion occurred.)