Full Circle

It's official.  I've been running for one full year. 

My running career (term used loosely) began March 2010 when a friend of mine, Ronald (name changed to protect the innocent), randomly asked me to run the Cohasset Road Race by the Sea with him on April 11, 2010.  At first I hesitated because my limited running experience left me with only negative thoughts.  I only ran when forced to: high school gym class, basketball practice (suicides), marching band practice (yes, we ran), being chased by a lion while on safari in Africa...you know, only in dire circumstances...But we had just spent the winter learning to ski together so I figured I should give this running-for-fun thing a shot.  Plus, Micah jumped at the opportunity and there was no way I was going to let him have fun without me, even if chances were slim that it would be fun at all. 

Ronald gave us at least 4 weeks notice before the race.  We signed up immediately but in true Silletto fashion we decided we would start training "tomorrow."  Tomorrow ended up being 2 weeks before the race.  I found a 4 week training program online and split it in half hoping that would do the trick.  For the record, it is not recommended to go from the couch to running 10Ks in 14 days.  You should work your way up.  Don't procrastinate. Your body will hate you.  The first run out of the gate was a 45 minute run. It was pouring rain and neither one of us had appropriate running clothes.  We wore COTTON.  Silly newbies.  Minus the wheezing and the pain, running in the rain was surprisingly enjoyable.  The second time we ran, we decided to go for a distance rather than a time limit.  1 mile.  Sounded easy enough.  So easy, we decided to take the dogs along.  We split up because a) there were squirrels and Sota preferred chasing them over running with me and b) I couldn't make it.  I blamed it on Sota but the truth was I ran a half mile and felt like I was teetering dangerously close to death.  (I was in a very dramatic phase last year).

Needless to say, I was not overly confident that I would be able to run a full 10K in less than 2 weeks.  Luckily for me, I have a competitive husband who refused to take no for an answer.  We kept running.  We even ran a nice hill training route through Beacon Hill.  I hated it.
April 11 rolled around fairly quickly.  We got to the starting line and I was immediately intimidated by the fancy running gear everyone else was sporting.  Micah insisted he could maintain a 9 minute mile throughout the race so Ronald and I decided to roll our eyes at him and hang back to run it together.  If you've ever been to Cohasset, you know that it is absolutely beautiful.  It's the quintessential New England town right on the water.  Ronald and I were handling the course well until we got just over halfway to Forest Ave where the course turns left and goes straight uphill.  It was the most demoralizing sight I've ever seen.  There was a collective gasp in the small group of runners around Ronald and me but we managed to muster on through the last 3 miles.  Micah was there waiting for us when we crossed the finish line.  We rushed over to the registration area where they were giving out free hot dogs and saw a small ice cream shop across the street.  6.2 miles deserves a good ice cream cone - and it was SO good.  The feeling I had completing my first race was indescribable and I knew as I was downing my free hot dog that I would be doing this again.

So here I am one year later: 2 half marathons down, and two weeks away from running my first marathon.  I managed to slice 11 minutes 22 seconds off last year's 10K time.  Cohasset was just as beautiful as last year and the hills seemed significantly smaller.  We went to the registration area and there were no hot dogs left and the ice cream shop hadn't opened yet, but that didn't dampen my spirits.  Besides, no hot dogs meant we had to stop for lunch and there just so happened to be a McDonald's on the way home.