Race Day

For several months I've been training to run a 10K. It's been quite the challenge as I have a form of arthritis in my spine and neuromas on both feet. Running is painful. For the most part though, adreneline and endorphines keep the pain at bay for at least a few miles and somehow keep me coming back for more. It's free aerobic exercise - no gym membership required, very little in the way of special equipment (just expensive running shoes). So in my effort to stay relatively fit, running is the best bet.

A few weeks ago I recruited some friends to sign up for the Tengelmann Lauf in Mülheim. Nothing like a little peer pressure for meeting your goals. My hope was to complete the race in 1 hour 10 minutes. And I did it! With the encouragement of some wonderful friends, I managed a time of 1 hour 9 minutes and 13 seconds! And came in dead last in my age group :) In fact, there were only 5 women in the entire race who finished after me - I was #220 from 225 female runners.

There was a 5K event today, as well, and one of my daughters was registered to run that. She didn't have anyone to go with her and was feeling very frustrated as she's suffering from shin splints and her training hasn't gone as well as she hoped. She wanted to complete in 30 minutes. So one of my amazing expat girlfriends (pictured above far right), who had coached me through the 10K and hung back during the race to keep me motivated (although she could have finished much faster) - volunteered to run the 5k with my daughter, too. So, with virtually no chance to recuperate, she was back at the starting line and helped my daughter finish in record time - under 28 minutes!

Since today is also Father's Day in the US and UK, and there were two Dads in our expat group running with us, we decided to go out after the race and celebrate with our families. First we went to a beer garden in Kettwig where all the kids could play mini-golf while we enjoyed adult refreshments, then we moved to another river-side restaurant where there were better food options and we enjoyed a fabulous dinner.

Thanks to my hubby, KS, LM, and AL for running with me today! Congrats to AL on a personal best time (he finished in only 53 minutes)!
Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful men out there raising children.

All-in-all a fantastic day!