The Amazing Race

Yesterday was our 10K, but it was more then just a 10K road race. It was a 10K cross country race and it was a blast! Let me give you a little bit of information about this race...

It is the largest cross country race in the country.

It is also held in November in the Midwest. That means that is was in low 30's at the beginning of the race and by the end of the race it was even colder, windy and snowing.

We ran through corn fields, woods and through creeks...yes, through creeks. Thigh high water in the 30 degrees weather. Then you had to climb up the muddy embankment on the other side of the creek. It was AWESOME!!!!

This was the third time that I've run this race with my husband, but this time was a little different. This time we took a group of ten instructors and clients. None of them had ever done this race before and they did excellent! I am so proud of all of them. This was a hard race, but they all stuck with it and finished. I'll never forget this race...it was a blast.

This is my favorite race...and that's saying something because I don't like the cold. Why is this my favorite race? #1: I get to race with my husband and have a good time. #2: Where else can you see a grown man wearing only a loin cloth? Or people running in footie PJ's. Or grown men dressed in diapers and baby bonnets? Did I mention that people dress up for this race. #3: It's not really a competitive race. With 7500 runners, there are bond to be bottle necks...especially when crossing a creek. Because it's not competitive, it's more of a community run. You talk to the people around you and you help each other climb those muddy embankments.

This year was even better because of running with the other instructors and clients. I enjoyed watching their faces when they jumped into that first creek and I loved seeing their faces when they finished. Most of these people, including Hubby and I, didn't train very much (there was one client who trained and did great). Even though they didn't train, they came to classes and worked out hard. They were all different age groups and some have lost lots of weight in the past year. They've come a long way to be able to do this race. I ask one of my clients, as he was running into the finish shoot, "Did you think you could do this six months ago?". He responded, "I didn't even think I could do this three months ago". I said, "Look how far you've come. You've lost 50 pounds and your finishing your first cross country race". The look on his face was priceless...this is why I do what I do.

Thanks to all of you for running with me and making it a very memorable race. You guys rock and I can't wait to do it again next year. Workout hard!