I heart White Cheddar Cheez-Its: Nike Human Race 10k

Hello friends! I know it's been awhile since I've posted, I had a hectic work week last week since I took Friday off and have enjoyed four glorious days away from both jobs and the computer. I feel like there's so much that I want to comment about: my weekend at home, Madelyn and how fast she's growing, Palin's VP nomination, the Nike Human race, and Hurricane Gustav... so be looking for more posts this week!
On Sunday evening I joined almost 15,000 runners in Austin and thousands of runners world wide in the first ever Nike Human Race 10k. This was my second 10k to run, the first was back in April when I ran in the Texas Round-Up. I was joined by my friends Andrea, Sarah, and Drea and we also met up and ran with their friends Laura and Heidi. I also managed to see several people I knew, which was suprising in a crowd that size: Elizabeth and her boyfriend were working the event, Dustin Ross and Rachel (Bunker's friends) were running, as well as another former BBW co-worker Sarah Saenz.
The run was tough... there were LOTS of hills! We ran down Congress to second street and then up San Jacinto and then to Red River and around the UT campus heading back to Congress at 4th street. After about the first mile my friends and I got separated since we all run at different paces, but close to mile 3 Laura and Drea found me again and I finished the race with Laura. It was great to have her to run with because she kept me motivated and we seemed to be on the exact same page when it came to needing walk breaks. We finished the race at 1 hour and 23 minutes, which I am happy with since my last race was a little over 1 hour and 30 minutes.
It was such a neat experience. As we turned the corner on second street and headed up San Jacinto you could see hundreds of runners in red shirts making their way up the hill. I can only imagine what it looked like for passersby and cars traveling down I-35 to look over and see so many red shirts! I also got chills when headed towards the finish line because of the beautiful site of our pretty Capitol building lit up at night. Following the race we hung out and watched Ben Harper perform in front of the Capitol and then enjoyed a post-race dinner at Shady Grove.
This race is just the first of many for me in the coming months. Later this month I am running a Marathon Relay with Andrea, Sarah, and Drea and then we're doing the Race for the Cure in November and culminating the races with the Rock N Roll 1/2 Marathon in San Antonio on November 16. I still can't believe that I'm attempting all of this... I would have never in a million years thought I would actually enjoy running!

Drea, Sarah, me and Andrea before the Race