Tonight I ran my final race of 2016, the Resolution Run 10K. 2016 has been a year that has been pretty weak in terms of racing… but not that it would be apparent here because I also haven’t written a single race report this year. WHAT?!

I ran a half marathon in May, a trail 8K the following weekend in May, and a Ragnar Relay in July. That’s all… Maybe I should write up reports on them posthumously. Just so I have a vague memory of doing them.

I missed this event last year (what was I doing? where does my time go?! I’m pretty sure I was nursing a super kinked up neck, a chronic problem this whole year.) but I have done it every other year prior. I knew I wanted to do it this year, but I didn’t register until about 2 weeks ago. It’s been a rough year in terms of health and the final straw was getting bronchitis at Thanksgiving that just dragged on and on. I still have a bit of cough that pops up at times.

And then there is the mom-guilt that I feel whenever I do things for myself. Oh… that kills me. I’m leaving the kiddo with her father, he should probably have the opportunity to parent her as well, right? Not sure he’d agree with that all the time, but she is REALLY attached to me. But the mom-guilt is killer for me.

I left the house for a whopping 2 hours and 10 minutes to do a race. Drive there, say hello to a few people, run a 10K, say hello to a few other people and drive back home. And I’m so glad I did it. I stress over races a lot since becoming a mom (see aforementioned mom-guilt) but I always finish like I’ve recovered a small part of myself.

I’m not one to write a mile-by-mile report, but here’s the general jist of it without being overly wordy.

Mile 1: Downhill. Nice.
Mile 2: Oh yeah… back up.
Mile 3: Still up.
Mile 4: More up.
Mile 5: Turn around, let’s cruise. Smile for that person with a camera.
Mile 6: This is great, this is fun. Is that a sprinkle? It’s not supposed to rain now.

I went into this race with a plan to just be relaxed and not care about my time. That’s pretty much how I ran it, I didn’t feel like I pushed it super hard. Yet I came away with a new PR. So that was pretty awesome.

But still, the second I got home my kid opened the door and greeted me with a sad face. She said, “Mom… I just wanted to play with you.” I literally was not even in the house yet before I got a guilt trip from my tiny master manipulator. She will be dangerous when she gets older if she decides to be a lawyer. That’s assuming she no longer wants to be an elf when she grows up.