Bayou City Classic 10K

In January, I finished up with physical therapy and got the clearance to start walking again. I was really excited because I had been really anxious to get back to running. Since then, Adam and I have been getting back in shape starting with walking first, then run/walking, to just running.

We set our eyes on the Capitol 10K in Austin. It was actually the first 10K I'd ever run back in 1999. (We're looking forward to partyin' like it's 1999 on April 11th.) We've been diligently getting out there and running and training together. I can't tell you how good it has felt to be back on my feet. The first time I did the "double loop"--a 3.8 mile route around our neighborhood--which was one of my easy running routes prior to the accident, I got really emotional. Like the kind of emotional you get when you're finishing a marathon. There have seriously been times that I thought I'd never be back on my feet.

So we'd been training for the Capitol 10K and then one day I said, "Babe--the Bayou City Classic is this weekend. I know we're not fully trained for a 10K right now, but you know, we could just get out there, be in a race environment, and just have fun with it." Knowing that we were only up to 4 miles in distance, I was shocked when my conservative running husband said "Let's do it."

So on a whim, we ran the Bayou City Classic 10K. The course along Allen Parkway is a favorite of mine. One I've run on and raced on several times. Part of the marathon race course even goes along Allen Parkway. We decided to truly just take it easy and have a good time. We planned to run 9 minutes and walk 1. We took in all the other runners in costume and the centipede teams. It was a fun race that I'd like to do again in the future. We felt great and ran strong the whole time. And yes, I got emotional again. I'm wondering if that will ever stop, but in some ways it's an awesome reminder to me just how lucky I am to be ABLE to run. Which is also my new mantra by the way.

Even though we weren't racing it for time, I will note that we finished with a time of 1:06:23. Of course not a good 10K time for me, but I just keep reminding myself of where I've been and how it will take time and hard work to get back to where I was on July 18, 2009.