I Run for Hope: My first 12k

Today, several of our G.O. Staff ran the Santiago 12k! What a cool experience! I thought it would be good practice for my upcoming mini and it definitely was. The race was supposed to start at 9am...didn't get started until closer to 10. So you can imagine the Dominican sun pounding down on us as many were finishing around 11am.

Although I finished my goal (which was to not stop running and finish the race) I was happy with my time. 7.4 miles in 1:14:25. But let me tell you, there was definitely more than once that I was trying to find an excuse to stop. It was blistering hot. I was thirsty. I felt like I was running forever. I totally feel like I was more mentally tired than physically. I'm going to have to try and work on that before my mini. I never want to quit because my mind is tired.

Either way, it was a great experience. Besides the obvious of being able to practice and experience my first race but also because I got to see a whole sub-culture of dominican runners that I never knew about. They are serious about running. It was cool just to learn something new about the country I live in.