I had been looking forward to this all week. It was the day of my first 5k. The day I would accomplish my goal. For some people, people who have been running for years or people who are natural born runners, this wouldn't seem like much of an accomplishment. But for me? It was huge. It was something I set out to do months ago. Something I worked hard to accomplish. Something I am proud of.
Let me start by saying that B has been my #1 fan. From day one. And this hasn't changed.
On Friday night he handed me two 12oz. bottles of water and told me to finish them both before we went to bed {in preparation for my run}. Does he know how small my bladder is? Even though there was no way I was going to drink all that water right before bed, it made me smile to know he was just as excited about my run as I was :)
We got ready for bed, I laid out my running clothes, and we set our alarms for 6:30a.m.
As soon as my alarm went off my first thought was "Why do people schedule these things so early in the morning??" I am not a morning person.
We got dressed quickly, I grabbed a water and a granola bar, and we were on our way.
We got there with plenty of time to check in and warm up. I got my race-timer-thingy {the strap that goes on your ankle and tells you your time at the end}, pinned on my number, did a quick warm-up run, and it was time.
Everyone's advice to me was to remember to run at my pace. They said to stay in the back and told me not to worry about keeping up with the other runners. So my plan was to start off in the back of the group from the starting line. But it all happened so quickly that I just had to jump in and go.
When the horn blew I was standing in the middle of the group, closer to the front than I wanted to be. But I had my music playing {Pandora pop and hip-hop power mix}, and I was ready to go.
 |
| {That's me in the pink shorts.} |
"Don't look behind you," I told myself. "Who cares if you're last?"
{If I was actually the last runner, I did not want to know.}
I kept running. At my pace. And as I rounded the second corner I noticed that I was no longer getting passed. Everyone was starting to spread out, and I felt like this was my run. I could do this.
As my confidence started to build, I decided to glance back. Just to see if I was last.
To my surprise there was a whole group of people behind me! I laughed to myself. How silly of me to have even worried about it!
At this point I was feeling great! This was just another run, on another trail, in another city. The weather was perfect, slightly windy with the sun peeking through the clouds. As I ran I tried to soak everything in. The crowd, the runners, the great organization that this run would benefit. I was loving it.
As I ran I noticed the diversity in all the runners. There were people of every age and every race. There were doctors, nurses, and receptionists. There were married people, single people, moms and dads. There were even runners who were not people...
 |
| {Princess will begin the C25k program as soon as I get home ;)} |
Before I knew it, I was getting close to the end. As I rounded the last corner I could see it. That was such a good feeling. I couldn't help but smile as I crossed the finish line.
 |
| {Mission Accomplished} |
 |
| {Sweaty, tired, and hungry.} |
My second thought: Where are we going to eat?? {Haha..}
 |
| {Post-race migas and queso..yum!} |
I loved my first 5k! I am already thinking about when to sign up for another one, and today I looked into the 'Bridge to 10k' app for my phone. I do want to get a few more 5ks under my belt before training for a 10k, but it's good to be prepared, right??
**Thanks for the "Good Luck" calls and texts...You know who you are ;)
