Campbell's Valentine Run

A few weeks ago I got mail from Sharon, founder of the Red Power Divas, a running group I joined to get back into shape after Cameron. She was trying to get the divas out for the race even though the new season would not be starting for a few months.

This was the Saturday that TnT would not be having an official practice, but a few people were going to run this race. I was excited to see Sharon and the other Diva's again so I signed up and told her I would see her then.

On Saturday morning I was unsure if I should go because Riley was pretty sick during the night. Everyone was sleeping so I decided to go hoping to be back before 11am. It was so great to see the divas. They were all shocked to see me. I hadn't seen any of them since the 2008 kickoff event, which was held 1 week before I gave birth to Riley (ie, I was big!!)

Although it had rained all night the sun was out. It was a little cool but I took off my jacket before the race. As we lined up at the starting line I saw some of my fellow TnT triathlon team mates. At the whistle they all took off.

Because I had the long run on Thursday I wanted to keep a steady pace and try to not walk too much during this run. I didn't walk until about 1.5 miles. I only walked for 30 sec and made a commitment to myself that I would not walk any longer. 30 seconds is about what I need to catch my breath when my asthma kicks in.

I ran up all the inclines along the Los Gatos creek trail thinking of Sumeet's tips of how this would be a great training tool. There were a large number of divas on the trail (we all had our red shirts on) and it was really cool to be racing with them. We all cheered each other on and after the 5 mile marker I started to lag a bit when another diva started to pass me and gave me an encouraging push. I followed her for awhile and then passed her headed into the 6 mile marker.

When I saw the 6 mile marker I could see one of the race coordinators cheering people in. I was so happy to be so close. He was a great cheerleader and so I decided to step it up. I was going to run in hard the rest of the way.

Surprisingly it felt really good. At the very last section it was all mud but I could see the clock. I crossed the finish line feeling good at 1hr 10 minutes. I knew I had run the race conservatively and had walked when I really could have kept going. I'm thinking maybe I can do this thing!

There were a group of divas at the end. Sharon gave me a big high five and Heather gave me a big hug. Both said I looked awesome crossing the finish line and I was happy to be back in my Diva T-shirt, these women were awesome!