10k Awesomeness: 46:30

Richmond has two major races every year: the Richmond Marathon in the fall and the Monument Avenue 10k in the spring. Months ago, Dave and I signed up for the 10k, planning to run it as a "fun run" (a.k.a. no training required). I even kept forgetting when it was until the day before. We were casual about it - I cleaned the kitchen before attaching my race number - and we jogged over to the starting line (ah, the beauty of local races). Having reiterated that not finishing together would, in Dave's words, "not emasculate" him, we shook hands before the starting line and parted.

I was relaxed throughout the race, enjoying the crowd and the costumes. Trying to avoid tossed cups at the water tables (why they have these in a 10k is beyond me) was the hardest part. Passing lots of people, however, was much easier than usual. I cruised in to the finish in 46:30. It was, it turns out, a PR!

In my age group, women 20-24, I was 20th out of 1547. Yay.

Dave did wonderfully as usual. He was only a few minutes behind me, but we spent an hour looking for each other in the rain. Giving up, I jogged back to the apartment in tears. He was waiting for me - thank goodness - and we were both very frustrated. And then the dog threw up over and over. Nothing like a little distraction... Thanks, Zoe.