And We're Off!

Today we are all traveling to DC for the Army Ten Miler. I can't believe this little idea I had back in December is finally coming to fruition. It will be great to see everyone, even if we can't actually run this race all together. I still think it was a fabulous journey to get to this point. 8 of us have contributed to this blog at some point on another. Bobbi never intended to travel internationally to run the Army Ten Miler. Cathy suffered a major injury, but is back to running now and has a race planned. Aura, E, and Angie all managed to get pregnant, but 2 of them will be traveling to DC to support the rest of us. I am confident that their running discussions will include shopping for jogging strollers. Christy, Shelley, and I will run the race along with 26,000 of our new best friends.

The intent of this blog was to encourage, support and inspire some dear friends to run. All of them either ran already, had run in the past, or wanted to be a runner. Each of us had different motivations for running. Certainly, the most popular motivator is weight loss and that is what draws most adult female runners to the sport initially. But running is powerful and finding your own strength is intoxicating. Runners come is all sizes, shapes, and abilities and yet, they are all runners. Our strides are different, our shoe preference is different, our distance and speed are different, but we are all runners. We suffer the same challenges with time, training plans, injuries, motivation. Life will always interfere with our training, and yet, we will continue to find a way to "come back" again.

26,000 people will run the Army Ten Miler. When those runners finish, only 12 finish times will be recognized. They will be the top 3 overall and the top 3 Masters (male and female). For the other 25,988, they will have to make do with their own personal accomplishment. I say this to offer perspective for many who say they could never run a race, or run 10 miles (or less or more).

When a finisher tells someone, "I ran the (insert any race)," most people will offer congratulations and ask how you did (meaning did you feel ok). Even if you offer your time, most will not even understand. They follow up with "I could never do that."

Race times are like your GPA; nobody cares once you graduate.