Two weeks ago I ran my first 5K. A girl Luke works with has a boy that plays
baseball and there team hosted a 5K to raise money for their team. Luke and I had talked about doing a 5K so
when the opportunity popped up he signed us both up!
You had the choice to be a walker or a runner. I told him to sign us up as walkers because
although I planned on running the most I could I would define myself as a “runner.”
Luke’s parents were supposed to watch Lakelyn for us but
then left out of town so we had to get a babysitter. Up until the night before when we found out
his parents couldn’t watch her we planned on taking her with us and Luke was
going to push her in the stroller. But I
knew it was going to be cold and she would enjoy staying at home with a
babysitter instead of riding in a stroller, so we got a babysitter.
The 5K was being run in an area of town that I had never
been to so I didn’t know what to expect.
When we arrived we went to check in.
If you were a “runner” you got a number to put on your shirt but if you
were “walker” you didn’t. If I am going
to do a 5K for “fun” then I am going to make it count. So Luke and I changed our status from walker
to runner and got us a number.
When we were checking in it was mentioned that part of the
course was not paved and we would be running through a small part of the woods
which would be muddy. It would have been
nice to know this BEFORE we arrived
because then all 3 of us who have nice running shoes (you know the kind you
only wear inside and got fitted for) wouldn’t have worn them and brought our
old shoes.
Oh, I forgot to mention it was 40 degrees outside. Luke made fun of me because I wanted to sit
in the car until the race started. I was
FREZZING!
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| Luke and I- Before the Race |
I am not going to lie, I was a little nervous and as time
kept getting closer and closer I kept getting more nervous. I don’t really know why. The race was for fun but I felt like I had
something to prove to myself. I had been
running my 5K at the gym but that was inside and on a treadmill. No matter what I could never finish my 5K any
faster than 36 minutes. I didn’t know
how well I was going to do being outside and in the cold.
I had already told Luke and my friend Sara (my BFF, she
busts out a 5K like a walk in the park) that I was going to run at my own pace
and for them to keep going when/if I stopped.
I also have a thing about hearing myself breathe, so I HAD to have my
headphones in and music blaring.
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| Sara and I- Before the Race |
We all gathered by the starting line which was in the grass,
there we about 50 runners, the gun went off and we all took off. I had my heart rate monitor on but told
myself I wasn’t going to look at it until the end.
All the 5Ks I have ever heard about or seen in our town have
always been on a paved road or walking path.
This 5K, not so much. The WHOLE 5K except maybe .25 miles was in
the grass, mud, hills and woods. There
were parts where you were running on a hill sideways, which was muddy, not sure
how I didn’t fall. The last mile was all
through the woods where basically you had just enough room to run though.
I think I stopped a total of 4 times and just long enough to
catch my breath or walk up a huge muddy hill.
My BFF Sara stayed with me almost the whole time and Luke was a head of
me the whole time but in my sight. When
I saw mile marker #2 I felt relief that it was almost over and my body was
feeling good. That last mile was the
toughest. This is when we started
running in the woods, sideways on hills and a lot more uneven terrain. At one point I stopped to catch my breath and
Sara thought we were close to the finish line so she decided to keep
going. Luke was just ahead of me so he
slowed down to finish the race with me.
In the final stretch I picked up my pace, I could see the
clock was at 29 minutes and 30 seconds.
As I picked up my pace so did Luke and just before we went through the
finish line, Luke tried to grab my hand but I thought he was trying to hold me
back so I pushed through to try and finish before him. Afterwards he told me he was trying to grab
my hard to put it up in the air as we ran through the finish line together.
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| We FINISHED! |
Luke and I finished the race at 30 minutes and 30
seconds, a new PR for me! Sara finished at 29 minutes. I could not believe I finished in 30 minutes,
that’s 6 minutes faster than I had ever ran before and with the weather and
terrain working against me, I could have been any happier.
Luke and Sara were so proud of me.
I was proud of ME.
Honestly, I am not sure I would have done so well without
Sara by my side. I pushed myself to keep
up with her and to not stop because I knew she didn’t need to.
After everyone was done they handed out awards. Sara got 2nd place and I got 3rd. I guess technically Luke and I got third
together, but they called my name!
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| Our HUGE trophies! |
It was definitely a great day for me. With that being said, I can definitely say I won’t
be signing up for any runs longer then a 5K in the near future. Right now I just don’t have the desire to go
out and run for… FUN.
