Here's to a little adventure :]

So this is my first blog dedicated to an adventure like I planned on writing about! For some time now I've been planning and training to run my first ever road race and over break I accomplished just that! On Saturday March 21st my boyfriend and I ran Holyoke's Saint Patrick's Day Road Race (Holyoke, Ma). In total the race was a 10K (6.2 miles). I have always been physically active my whole life, participating in year round sports and while in college I've been a member of the field hockey team but training for this was unlike any other preseason or season of practices I've ever gone through. I made the decision to participate in this race at the beginning of this year as a goal that I would like to accomplish for myself and asked my boyfriend to do it with me. I figured that there would be no harm in trying to do it, our goal wasn't to win the race-it was just to finish and have fun! Not having ever participated in a road race before made me very nervous-I had no idea what to expect! The gym that I belong to at home actually had workout schedules that you could use to get in shape (which I started my training off with) and made me feel a little better about my current level of fitness. Since my field hockey season ended I had been running everyday-starting with 3-4 miles then working my way up to ther 6.2 then some hard days with 8. Up until spring break, though, I hadn't really done any training outdoors because it had been so cold-which might have been a mistake for me but once break came around me and boyfriend thought it would be best to at least go running outdoors once. This cracked a little bit of our butterflies about the race being so close! Now all we had to do was make sure we got enough rest, ate the right diet, and relaxed before the big day.

When Friday night rolled around I could barely sleep. Friends and family that had done the race before told me I was being silly to be worried about this race but I couldn't help it! A friend's mom kept telling me that I had nothing to worry about-that it was simply a race to have fun and enjoy the crowds and enthusiastic people. When I woke up Saturday morning I realized I didn't know what to do with myself. The race was at 1pm, so I had all morning to sit around and prepare myself for it..which may not have been a good thing. Once we got to the meeting place before the race started I realized what everyone had been telling me the whole time-everyone was so happy, excited, friendly;there was music playing, food stands, people selling balloons, it was so festive I forgot all my worries. We went and checked in, got our t-shirts (as proof we did it :) ) and made our way to the starting line. From there on out it was just an amazing expierence. Once you passed the finish line the course seemed to fly by. This past year there were a total of 3,705 people who were registered for this road race. This year was one of the most popular years because they ended up having to turn people away because so many people wanted to participate in it! I met up with a friend afterwords who still ran the race even though he didn't have his ankle braclet (for timing reasons) or had registered meaning there were still others who did the same. Although this course was pretty hilly, as you ran it you were dodging through so many people that you really didn't feel the incline as much as you thought you would. This definetly helped push yourself! The crowds throughout the whole course also made the expierience more worthwhile. Tons of families held up signs and cheered loudly for you as you ran by, younger kids held out their hands for high-fives to everyone, and people blared music outside their houses and cars to give you motivation. My boyfriend and I made a pact to stick together throughout the whole race. Once we crossed the finish line it was like a rush of excitement and relief. Not only did we accomplish our goal but it was such a great expierence.

I would reccomend running a road race to anyone if you've ever thought you might want to do it. there are many local ones around the Westfield area along with all over Massachusetts and New England. A great site to look up races near you is :www.coolrunning.com. At this site you can find upcoming road races, check times from past road races, and even learn training tips!