9 on the 9th Race Report

"It was a beautiful day!" U2's song on the iPod couldn't have been more appropriate to start out my 9 on the 9th Virtual Race this morning. It truly was a beautiful day. Clear skies, a nice 57 degrees, a comfortable breeze, and South Mountain in the distance. Luckily there were no ferocious dogs on the course today, so it was smooth sailing.

I was a little worried about pumping out 9 miles after all the time I had to take it easy in January due to injury, from which I am still recovering (I'm happy to report that this is going very well), so this was a good test of where I am at right now. The time off did take a lot out of me, but not as much as I was fearing. Today's run felt pretty good.

My wife and kids came with me over to the park by the library. The kids played, while I headed out around the foothills and back to finish at the lake. I finished with a time of 1:08:25, met with the open arms of my adorable girls. Just before I crossed the finish line, however, is when the actual 'Sweetheart Shuffle' began. It was a race between me and my wife. I was racing to finish, and she was racing in the other direction to get in position for a picture. It was close, but I think I won. ;-)

It felt great to still be able to go that distance after such a long time off. The competitive part of me was hoping to go faster, but it was still a faster pace that the last virtual race. Thanks Nancy for organizing yet another wonderful race! See you in a couple months for another??

Update!
Official race results are in! I am officially a Rapid Romeo! Click here for photos, results, and race reports from other runners.