So today was the big day for me. Weatherwise it was a pretty nice day, only 50-60% humidity and starting temperature around 75(23C) and up to 79(26C) by the time I crossed the finish line. On the downside air quality was kinda yucky today (ie Yellow).
I packed pretty light for the run. My pack included my keys, ventolin, aerochamber, epipen, grape chewable bendryl, bag-o-wallet(ziplock with the essentials from my wallet), cell phone(not pictured... taking picture) and peak flow meter.
The race started off pretty well, I ran-ish a 12:24 first mile a little before the mile marker there was a turtle crossing the trail. It was too cute and a nice reminder that slow and steady still finishes the race. I was still going strong pretty well into mile two which I finished at 26:17. Not too shabby if I do say so myself :). It was a really pretty course along the Missouri River using the Katy Trail as the main running surface. It was nice to just run in nature and not tune it out with the sounds of my music. The last 1/3 of the race proved to be a bit more challenging for me. My legs started to cramp up and I got a little SOB not much considering. Mostly I was just worn out as it was starting to warm up for the day and the second half wasn't as shady as the first half of the course. I managed to power through the last 1/3 of a mile or so and finish strong.
I crossed the finish line at 40:55 according to the official timing(38 of 47 for Age Bracket, 207 of 243 overall). This was about 4 minutes faster than my goal. All in all I'm really proud of myself for running about 3/4 of the race and finishing faster than my goal. I'll keep on training and going. However, this really helps me push past the mental block of well I have asthma so there is no way I'll ever be able to do that. I really want to find an 'I have asthma, what's your excuse?' technical tee that I can wear while running. It would be pretty sweet considering all the whining the girls ahead of me were doing. I paced behind them so I wouldn't push too hard too soon.
I'm feeling pretty good considering. I did take two hits off the ventolin after the race and will probably hit it up again tonight as I'm starting to feel a little SOB/tight(could just be hormones). I probably shouldn't have gone running on a yellow day outside. We'll see how much I pay for it afterwards. I appologize for the lack of photographic quality in the pictures. I took them myself with my cell so not the best set up(nobody came to cheer me on).