Guus Bosman

Today I ran my first race ever, the Run for the Roses in Raleigh, NC. It was great! I am very happy with the result: 26:46, a lot faster than I expected. The adrenaline and the people around made me run faster than usual.

The race started at 2.00 pm so I left home around 12.15 pm. It's a 40 minutes drive to downtown Raleigh, and I was well on time to pick up my Championchip, which is tied to your shoe and enables electronic measuring of the results. The next 20 minutes I sat down, drank some water and enjoyed watching the preparations. I did a 10 minute warm-up, and at 1.50 pm we all lined up in a big group. I'm not sure how many participants there were, but I'd guess at least a 150.

It was very windy but sunny. I'm very glad that I ran the route earlier this week because it made it a lot easier to time my effort. The big difference was of course that now the roads were blocked off. I knew that in the last mile of the race there are two roads after each other uphill, and I was ready for them. On the 1-mile and 2-mile markers there were volunteers yelling out the split times.

A part of the proceeds of the Race for the Roses goes to Urban Ministries. The race was very well organized: lots of volunteers, a good course, lots of parking spots nearby the start and there was a even a water break half-way. For a 5k run I don't need water but it was a nice touch. Every female participant received a rose at the finish. After the race there was free food and drinks. Throughout the event there was nice and friendly atmosphere.

Now, up to the next race!