10 weeks to 10 miles: Done and done!

Judy Sutton-Taylor, TOCs Kids editor, juggles a very busy job, two kids, and a million other things. Add training for the Soldier Field 10 Mile race to the list.

It's felt like a looooong ten weeks but the Soldier Field 10-mile is finally behind me, and I'm happy to say that things ended on a pretty high note on race day.

It wasn't an easy race for me, especially the last three miles when I started to feel a blister and began seeing mirages of Gatorade stations in the distance. But it was by no means the 10 miles of hell I'd anticipated, either.

I was a bundle of nerves the night before. I laid out all of my clothes, made sure my play list was in just the right order and checked and rechecked that my iPod shuffle was charging. My breathing was in check the morning of the runit didn't hurt that the weather was just about perfectwhich eased some of my nerves right off the bat.

And prepping my son and daughter for the Kids Blitz (which they LOVED) kept me distracted almost til start time. But along with all the other things I was worried about, I was concerned about running with a friend who wanted to do the race together. As I've said before, I tend to be an anti-social runner. I don't like chatting when I run. I just want to listen to my music and get finished as fast as possible. But I didn't have it in me to blow her off, so we ran side by side (but with our headphones on) and I learned that having a partner for a race like this can be a blessing in disguise for someone like me.

My friend motivated me to keep up with her at times when I really felt like slowing down. The competitive side of me wasn't going to let her beat me, and because of that I finished with a time I'm pretty comfortable with. I certainly didn't break any personal bests but considering the hard time I had just getting to race day, I have a feeling the push I got from her helped me finish a little faster than I would have on my own.

I do wish I focused a little more at the finish on the excitement of running across the 50-yard line inside Soldier Field rather than just getting those last few steps over with. But it still felt really, really good to know I had it in me to finish and finish strong. It made the imbibing and indulging that ensued the remainder of the weekend that much sweeter.
And despite all the promises I made to myself that I was going to find something else to do for workouts this summer once this race was through, I'm already back at it: I registered for a 10K in late June before the weekend was over.