Lord of the Tengan 10k.

On Sunday, I participated in my first 10k race. My friend Jess and I loaded up my Honda early with both kiddos (her son is 6 months younger than Evelyn) and both strollers, and headed up to Camp Courtney where the race was held.

Stroller Warriors: Okinawa before the Lord of the Tengan Run. (Not my photo.)

We went into the race expecting that we'd need to do some walking as we hadn't ran a full 10k (6.1 miles) length yet. We had done close to 7 miles one day a few weeks prior, but only 3 of them were ran. My goal was to be under 1 hour 20 minutes. Actually to be honest, my goal varied depending on how sure I felt of my abilities. The lowest goal I set for myself was 1hr20min. If I was feeling less sure of myself, I gave myself an extra 5 minutes, and if I felt like I wouldn't really be able to do it, I upped my goal time to 1hr30min. It was a cyclic changing process. I can't even remember what time I decided on that morning. All I knew was that I didn't want to be the last one to cross the finish line.

Headed up the hill that goes by Ironworks gym.

Jess and I had been meaning to get up to Courtney to run the route but we never got around to it. If we had been able to, I think we would've been more mentally prepared. The last run we did we were aware of the route (it was completely flat and two laps around equaled 5k). This one...not so much. I tried to look at the map at the brief beforehand but didn't look closely enough, apparently. One lap during this run was 5k and the lap felt as if it took forever.

Photo courtesy of Kelly M., founder of Stroller Warriors: Okinawa.

Long story short, we finished! We were not first but we were not last. Once we were finished I was honestly a little disappointed at how close to last we were so I think that'll be my goal for my next race: have at least 10 people behind me. Or something like that. I was feeling half-way happy that I finished but also was also suffering from that-wasn't-good enough feelings.

Photo courtesy of Kelly M. Look at Evelyn just loungin'!

The race results were just put out, and it placed everyone (both 5k and 10k) on a scale from 1 to 202. I felt a bit better when I saw the race results, because I was 112 out of 202. They must've put it up based on your average mile time. The time I remember seeing on the clock as I made it to the finish line was 1:14:45 though the race results have me as finishing in 1:11:47.3. I'm not sure where that 3 minute discrepancy comes from...3 minutes is a lot of time!

Post run. Can you spot me?

I could've gotten a few seconds faster had I not stopped running once I turned left into the gym. I heard them say "go through the chute" to finish but I didn't see a chute, so I figured they meant that the area between the cone and the curb was the "chute". Uh, no. I stopped to walk and look behind to see where Jess was at, when I could hear people yelling, "Keep going!" That was mildly embarrassing.

My first bib!

Evelyn did really well and didn't get fussy whatsoever. Thank goodness for the sun shade on the stroller, as the sun was sure roasty-toasty. I can't wait to do more 10ks and improve my time.