Dom “Ran” Faster for Beer!

Those who have been following my blog for a while know that I tried to tackle the 2011 Dogfish Dash and was met with personal defeat.  I convinced myself that this year would be different and vowed to be stricter with my C25K training program.  Well…that didn’t last very long.

Along comes September 30th – the day of the 2012 Dogfish Dash – and I’m no closer to running a 5K than I was last year.  However this year I wasn’t doing it alone.  In addition to my BFF running the 10K again, P decided to run the 5K with me this year.  I was really excited that he wanted to run with me – so excited that I thought we should buy matching tech shirts (true story).  P had trained slightly more than me, and by slightly I mean that he did maybe a day more than I did.  Of course, he is more fit than I am in general.

Anywho, we get up at 5:30 am and start getting ready for the race.  My BFF and her roommate meet us at my mom’s house at 6 am, and we head to the brewery.  Once we’re there, we met up with a few of my high school friends who were running their first 5K – way to go Diane and Katie!  I definitely was not as nervous as I was last year, which I think I can attribute to knowing that P was going to be with me the entire race.

The Dogfish Dashers first thing in the morning.

Before we know it, it’s 8 am and everyone is lining up for the race.  I learned my lesson from last year and positioned myself near the end of the group.  Sadly this meant that I didn’t get to run with Sam.   With over 1500 runners, it took us a while to cross the start line, but we were finally off!  P and I jogged away from the brewery and eventually slowed to a fast walk.  We kept this pace for most of the race.  P and I chatted away – it was really great to A) have someone to talk to and B) have someone there to encourage me to push myself.  When we’d reach certain parts of the course (mostly downhills), P would ask if I wanted to try to jog again so we did.  Thanks to our intermittent jogging, our pace for the race was roughly a 16:27 mile – not too shabby, right?

Once we hit the last tenth of a mile, P and I started jogging again.  We ran across the finish line together, though P’s results say he finished a second before I did.  Although I didn’t run as much as I hoped I’d be able to, I was very happy with my time.  I finished almost 5 MINUTES FASTER than last year!  Woo!

 

After we finished, I found my mom and my a few of my friends.  We congratulate each other on a good race and start to move back towards the finish line to cheer BFF in.  Then this happened…

P proposed!  He dropped down on one knee in front of the brewery and asked me to marry him.  Well, at least I think he did…as soon as I saw the ring I think I went into shock.  He had the ring in his pocket during the entire race (and for the entire weekend)!  I’m so thankful that my mom – who was a blubbering mess because she had no idea this was going to happen – was there to take pictures.  We were also featured on the Dogfish Dash recap video thanks to BFF’s running group.

Needless to say, it was a very memorable day.  With a wedding looming somewhere on the horizon, I have even more of a reason to commit to a healthy lifestyle.  Stay tuned!