Maybe?

So this past weekend, I went to Fort Worth to run a 10K. Now, to be sure, the 10K was just a side event. The main event was visiting my BFF since kindergarten, Michele. My husband was working long, crazy hours, and her husband was working long, crazy hours, so why should we have to battle the kids alone, right?

We had so much fun. We didn't do much, but just sitting in her kitchen, laughing and talking while our kids played together? AWESOME. Just like we had imagined it when we were in school and we were going to live in the same neighborhood and our kids were just going to go back and forth between houses.

But the 10K...

When I started running seven years ago, it wasn't because I thought I would ever been any good at it. It seemed like an easy way to burn calories. I didn't have to go to a gym. I didn't need any special equipment -- just throw on some clothes and run. I could do it anytime, anywhere. I'm the queen of excuses (or I can be), and I knew if I had some structured gym-type thing, I'd never go because of x, y or z.

So running it was, and has been for quite some time now.

There were over 1,000 runners in this 10K. It was a very hilly course and the descent was worse than the ascent sometimes. The runners were more aggressive than what I'm used to around here. Not that that is a bad thing, but it was unsettling at first, and then I got into the groove (so SE Texas runners, watch out!).

I finished in 52:24, so a couple of minutes less than my previous 10K PR. That was good enough for 7th out of 63 women in my (gulp) 40-44 age group. I finished in the top 250 overall (I think it was 216th).

But...seventh. 


It made me start thinking that maybe I can be good at this. Not Olympic-team good. Not finishing-the-Boston-Marathon good. But possibly running-a-sub-3:00-marathon good.

Maybe I am good at this?