Healthy Kidney 10K.

Saturday, I and Askhad ran our first race together! How exciting it is! He was able to get me a spot in the Healthy Kidney10K run while picking up his number. I never manage to tackle my day off runs in the morning since most of the time I would sleep in after a week of exhausting work. This time I was excited to give it a try. My second race, here I come...

We were blessed with glorious spring morning and thrilled to run for such a great cause {benefits  the National Kidney Foundation}. New York Road Runners do such a tremendous and awesome job organizing these races.

Askhad got  #112  and I got  # 2970 and we started race in different groups 3-5 minutes apart. The course ran through gorgeous Central Park- home of my usual laid back runs on almost daily basis.
 I love Central Park and know every inch of it ;) The run was quite  challenging as I tried to keep up with fit folks in my group whose pace was faster than mine. Sun was shining from the early morning already, promising very hot summer-like day in New York and it was too warm for my comfort zone.
 I even had to grab some water on way {usually I don't drink any if I run entire loop}

It took me 47 min to finish 10 km and I was exhausted.  The man who won the race finished in 28 min:28 sec{!}and the woman who was the first came in a bit over 34 min- fantastic and mind-blowing pace they held!

We met with Askhad after I crossed the finish line  in the recreational zone and both had huge smiles on our faces.  I always feel good after finishing run {talking about those endorphins released after this fantastic activity}.

I wish we could cross the finish line together someday)

We were given bagels and apples for carbohydrate boost,  but no medals this time.

Statistics of the Healthy Kidney 10K :   7.918 total finishers, 4,181 men and 3.737 women

 I already looking forward for my next race...