Today I got the chance to participate in the San Juan Bautista 10k in San Juan. This race is hosted by the town of San Juan, to commemorate the day of San Juan Bautista (Saint John the Baptist) who the town capital town is named after. 

I really wanted to participate in this race for a few reasons but I almost didn’t get a chance to, as 3,000 open spots got full very quickly. Free races fill up immediately but luckily, at the last minute, fellow group members gave me a spare number they had.

I was a little worried because I haven’t been able to run a lot for the last two weeks, but if I was able to finish a 5k last weekend, I could do this too. Like last weekend, I wanted to do well, so I was happy to see two friends quickly after the race began and kept running with them for about a mile. They helped me keep a good pace in the beginning but, after not practicing that much for two weeks, it was a little difficult to keep running for more than a mile. I’m going to have to work hard to get back to that.

Along the way, I saw and ran with a few more fellow Freddy’s Runners; there were a lot of us there today. That was nice because we always push each other to give it a little more, and give each other advice. They understand the pain, mostly foot pain, that comes with running and always have advice on how to deal with it and hearing them cheering you on as you’re near the finish line is all you need to run a little faster and finish. 

Today I finished in one hour, 21 minutes and 15 seconds. It wasn’t my best time, but not my worst either; it was actually pretty close to my fastest 10k time. I’m proud of my performance today, I had fun and I’m very proud of all of those who showed up today and gave it their best. I will gladly do this again next year. 

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Published by mariacristinasanfeliu

I’m an aspiring writer still looking for exactly what I want to write about, with a lot of creativity, imagination and desire to write. I studied Writing and Rhetoric at Syracuse University where I explored many different sides of writing through my classes and extracurricular activities in order to narrow my search for an identity as a writer. I have written for Citrus TV Noticias and La Voz magazine, both of which gave me the chance to explore different mediums in which to write in. Through Citrus TV Noticias I also gained experience in translating from English to Spanish and vice versa, which is also something that I would be interested in working on since I am fluent in both of these languages. I was also an intern at Syracuse University Press where I got hands on experience in what goes into actually editing and publishing a book. Through out the last four years I have faced a lot of challenges, which helped chape the person I am today. After being in a tragic car accident, being in comma, having a Traumatic Brain Injury, and being in therapy for over a year, I am a new me, willing to face challenges and knowing how to deal with them. I want to write about my accident and life after it to help others, show them it can be done and help in any way I can.

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