This past Sunday, I did something huge for me. I ran my first 12K. For those who are not familiar with the 12k race, it’s 7.46 miles (give or take just a little bit). I’ve been training for the race since January, and it was a great feeling to have completed it. As you know from older posts if you’ve been following this blog for some time, I’ve run multiple 5k races – my first 5k was the Independence Day 5k in Chico, California in 2011, I also did Run For Food that year and had my 5k PR.
As you also may know, in 2012, I took an antibiotic that knocked me on my butt. After only 3 days on the antibiotic, I was unable to walk. That put a serious hamper on my miles – both in terms of running and in terms of being able to walk everywhere, as I’d been accustomed to. I was in some serious pain. I had to really fight to get back to running. I tried to run the Mozart Mile that year (which was actually a 5k, and Wining Husband got second place in his age group, I got third place in mine). The following year, I’d resolved to do 13 races in 2013, culminating with the Almond Bowl Half Marathon – but I had an awesome surprise happen. What we were told could take 2 years happened in a month, and I found myself pregnant with Miss 4.
A lot happened between my last race in 2013 and my first “getting back to things” race in 2017 – the Wichita Turkey Trot 2 mile race. I had two more babies. We moved two more times, one of those times was across the country from California to Kansas. My older brother passed away. Postpartum depression sucked, the teenager graduated and went to college, and baby four came with the unwanted gift of preeclampsia. So when I tell you how grateful I am to be running again, it’s not hyperbole. I am really, really happy to be running again.
So, a lot went into the race – a lot of emotion, and you can see it in the pictures of me finishing the 12k. I have to say that my coaches and fellow runners in my group are amazing people. They’re supportive, motivating, and just good friends. They’re a great group to hang around with.
Pretty big group there, right? That’s both the 5k and the 12k runners all together.
So I did the 12k, and it was a lot of fun. I wasn’t fast, 2 hours and 16 minutes and some change. At mile 6, I started to get really tired. A blister on my toe started to yelp at me. But I kept going, thanks to the encouragement of the coach running with me. It was a great race.
