Last Saturday, I completed my first 10K run; in fact, it was the first racing/running event I’ve ever completed by choice.

My brother-in-law and I ran in the Get in Gear 10K in Minneapolis with about 2,330 other 10K runners and another 1,066 half marathon runners on much of the same course.

Here are a few observations from my first running event since I competed in mandatory race events in eighth grade:

 So. Many. People.

I’m not a social runner. I usually run with headphones either blasting music — TV on the Radio is my go-to running music — or an Audiobook through Audible.

So running on a course with more than 3,300 people was a bit of a jolt. I was worried about starting off with too much adrenaline and killing my pace. That didn’t happen. The first mile or so was spent weaving between people trying to find space to get up to pace. Finally, I followed a few other runners to grass and running trail along the side of the road.

Eventually, the pack thinned.

But it’s still a small world after all. After the run, I bumped into a fellow Austin YMCA runner and chatted for a minute. From the results, three other Austin runners actually participated in the Get in Gear 5K and 10K.

 Don’t get cocky

When I crossed the finish, the clock said I beat my goal time by about two minutes. Little did I know, I actually bested it by four minutes and 40 seconds.

Mock me if you will, but that was almost more frustrating because it left me 20 seconds shy of my dream goal time.

Either way, I finished with a respectable time and have found myself in a weird position the last few months: People commenting and complimenting me on my running at the Y.

That feels weird because I can still remember barely being able to go a mile when I started running about five years ago.

But it’s humbling to run in such a large group. I finished 540th out of 2,335 — no, you don’t medal for 540th — and I finished in the latter half of my age category of men 25 to 29 with the winner besting me by 20 minutes.

But I run for me and only me, so it doesn’t really matter.

 Credit where credit is due

Now I have to give credit where credit is due, even if it’s long overdue.

When I say I run for me, I mean it. Running is a solace, a stress relief, a mind cleanser. Nothing is better than a stressful day than running yourself to exhaustion.

Yes, many people would recommend just cracking a beer, but I just think of all the calories.

Despite running being a personal endeavor, I had plenty of help in being able to complete a 10K. Unfortunately, the main people I need to thank were, and still are, in hospitals.

One is my best friends of 20-plus years, his wife and their oldest daughter (my non-blood niece) who is battling cancer. I visit the family a few times a year, and the visits serve as good motivation: They’ll tell me if I look trimmer and thinner than my last visit. The visits have morphed into workout checkpoints.

The other is Herald reporter Jenae Hackensmith, whom you’ve probably read about. (If not, you can check out our editorial wishing her well at www.austindailyherald.com/?p=668274.)

Jenae and I have been workout buddies for over a year. Largely, it’s about accountability and discussion: We serve as the person the other can brag to or complain to about workouts and progress without becoming someone who outlines their daily routine on social media.

And I knew Jenae would find out and hassle me if I skipped a morning workout.

But Jenae was also responsible for boosting my workouts, even if I scoffed at her suggestion for weeks. She convinced me — and I took some convincing — to try Jillian Michaels DVDs last April. I eventually gave in and tried an ab workout, and I took even more convincing to try “Ripped In 30.” I still do the video three to five mornings a week before running in the evenings.

I rarely confess publicly to doing the videos since they feel like a bit of an unmanly workout, but hey, they’re effective.

Both families were on my mind right before I started the 10K and a short prayer hit me: I’m just going for a run, you can focus your attention on my friend who need the help much more.