I'm home! and race recap

I'M HOME! HUZZAH!!! Didn't think I would make it towards the end, but I did and of course the very next day I got sick :( I think all the sorry excuses for sleeping and eating along with still doing 25 miles a week finally got to me. But I have one week of doing nothing but sitting in my pjs and catching up on Homeland, Dexter, and The Walking Dead so I really can't complain.
But before I got home, I ran the Hot Chocolate 10k on Roosevelt Island. This was my first time running it and the race's first time on the Island. Because of Hurricane Sany, it was a little difficult to get there but the Subway was working so we took that. The race started at 10 am which I actually liked. Sometimes it's nice to not have to wake up insanely early for a race, especially in the winter.
The race was very nice. It was two loops of the island with a 5k option as well. They had suggested on the race website to wear shoes you didn't care about because it would be muddy but it was actually fine. I wore the wrong shoes and this was my downfall at the race. My knees and feet hated me pretty much from the first step. Honestly, buy the time I got to the half-way point, I really just wanted to stop. But I don't give in lol! I took the you-can-do-anything-for-half-an-hour stance. I took a quick stop to grab some water and stretch out and finished at a 9:45 pace. Not impressive, but I didn't give up and I finished under an hour.
There was a huge amount of hot chocolate and bagels at the finish. Very nice. I enjoyed my cocoa and everything bagel and met up with some friends. My dad and friend did amazing and medaled for sure but they had messed up the awards and said they would mail them so we left shortly after I finished. But as soon as I got back to my apartment, one of my friends emailed me to let me know that I had a first place AG finish!! and before you ask, I was not the only person in my age group lol. In retrospect, it's just a 10k, and a relatively crappy job done by me, but I stuck with it and ended up being rewarded. It's times like this that I remember the cliche that no matter how slow you go, "you're always lapping someone on the couch." Every race I complete takes me farther from my injury and closer to my goal of being a better runner and one day a marathoner.