Inagural running event in Brussels and my first race in 3 years!

 I just checked my records and it's been three years since I participated in an organized running event!  My last race was the Ladies Run in Leuven in May 2012; I ran the 10K in 1:01:36, a pretty respectable time for me back when I was running very regularly.

As some of you know, I took a whole year off running for a hip injury and have been slowly reincorporating running back into my routine the past two years.  My oldest son, Florian, has also been doing more running, mainly to participate in a 24-hour relay team to raise money for cancer research in a few weeks.  So when I saw there was a new race in Brussels, I asked him if he wanted to do it with me, and I left the choice of distance up to him.  There was going to be a 5K and a 10K; he chose the 5K, which was fine with me.  Much less daunting to get prepared for!

We were so lucky yesterday, the weather was gorgeous and we headed to the big King Baudoin Stadium in Brussels where the race would start.  This stadium is where all the national football (soccer) team's matches take place, as well as a very well known athletics meet, the Memorial Van Damme.  So it was pretty impressive to be able to walk out onto the track and be able to start our race in the stadium.

The course was surprisingly hilly!  We went straight up a hill as we ran out of the stadium, and then through some parks in the area with quite some ups and downs.  This is not the race you would want to run for a PR.  Towards the end we got to run right under the Atomium, Brussels' answer to the Eiffel Tower, which we decided was worth pulling the camera out and taking a short stop to get a snapshot of:

By the time we passed the Atomium, my Garmin was telling me we were very near to 5 km, which we hit right around 35 minutes.  However, the course kept on going and led us into one of the big expo halls, where there was loud techno music, flashing lights and cheerleaders to welcome you as you finished.  By the time we crossed the finish line, were handed our medals, and I remembered to turn it off, the Garmin said 5.37 km and 39 minutes.  We were pretty pleased with our time, considering the hilly course and that it was actually longer than 5K.  We got our sports drink and waffle and got the heck out of that loud, dark hall and back into the gorgeous spring weather...

Doing the race yesterday reminded me of how fun it is to do a well organized big event in a neat location.  Especially when you have a great person to run with - Florian stuck with me the whole way, and was great company.  We really enjoyed ourselves.  So yes, we have already decided we'd do this one again - but perhaps the 10K next time...