I Won!

A follow-up to this post in which I decide to run a 10k to help Maia raise funds for her school.

It was close, but thanks to a lot of generous donors, Maia and I surpassed our fundraising goal of $1000. We found out while waiting in line at the neighborhood bakery - I was checking my phone and a congratulatory email came in from Crowdrise. She and I were cheering and jumping for joy and the people in line were smiling at our silliness. It was very bonding.

Running the race was more fun than I expected. I normally like exercising alone, so I wasn't sure what it would be like - surrounded by so many people. But it was fine. I kept my headphones on, listened to my jogging playlist and Nike + Running kept me conscious of my pace.

Surprisingly (at least to me) I was truly motivated by the people who came out to cheer at the sidelines. How awesome are they!? Certainly the two best moments of the race were when my friend Chaz appeared on the sidewalk at the 2nd mile, giving me a great big hug and yelling, "run Cori, run!"; the second was towards the end of mile five when a friend's parked car honked just loud enough for me to look over and catch my daughter's eye - peering out the passenger side window, hands waving, cheering "GO MOMMY!".

For various reasons (cough ... cough ... Aunt Flo ... cough, cough...) I knew this wasn't going to be my best 10k time. But I ran the whole way (no walking!) and did OK - especially considering the last hill that nearly killed me.

Due to a communication glitch, there was nobody to meet me at the finish line, which was, honestly, kind of a bummer. But not horrible. I received a medal and t-shirts and all the other swag for those who completed the race. Still, I skipped the beer garden and took a shuttle back to downtown Berkeley.

When I finally made it home, Maia greeted me with hugs and kisses and a homemade card with things like, "congratulations!" "you're the best" and "I'm proud of you!" scrawled across it in bright colors. She took my photo, told me to shower, and the two of us spent the rest of the day prepping for Thanksgivukkah.

In all it was a great experience. I learned a lot and reached two important goals: 1.) being fit enough to run a 10k and 2.) raising $1000 for Berkeley Public Schools Fund. Best of all, united in a common cause, Maia and I developed a kinship and closeness that we hadn't yet had an opportunity to develop.

I won thrice.