I AM NOW OFFICIALLY A RUNNER!!!

Saturday was the day. 5K day. I had been training for many weeks. I was pretty sure I was ready to conquer this mountain.  Last Monday, I pushed really hard and ran 3 miles in almost exactly 30 minutes.  Not an easy feat for these short legs to maintain 6 mph for 30 straight minutes...

I was lucky enough to have several ladies running with me.  Ladies from my "old" ward that I miss, but thankfully still get to associate with, maybe just a little less frequently.  Big shout out to Aleisha, Lori, Jessica, Jen, and Shelby for carpooling with, encouraging, and supporting me--you guys rock.

My original goal was just to run the whole race--no walking.  Then once I realized that goal was pretty attainable, I set a new one:  under 35 minutes.  Then after Monday, I realized that even that goal was not going to push me hard enough, so I set a new, secret goal that I didn't tell my friends.  That new goal was to beat all of them.  What can I say--I'm competitive!!!  I reached all 3 goals.  I ran my first-ever 5K in an official time of 30:25.9!!!  I ran the whole way.  I beat my next-closest friend by about a minute and a half.  AND--I got 8th place in my age group!!  Success!!

I wanted to die once I finished, probably just because I pushed super-hard, especially the last quarter-mile, or so.  But now that a couple days have passed, I'm ready to make a new goal.  I think I will run a 10K this fall, and next year for the Potato Marathon, I want to run the half marathon--why not?  I have proven I can do hard things--and that's what makes me want to keep going--that amazing feeling of setting a goal that seemed really hard and then reaching it--what a feeling!!!

 Aleisha, Lori, Jessica, Me, Jennifer, and Shelby just before the race.

Shelby, Me, Lori, and Aleisha after the race sporting our hard-earned t-shirts.

5K

I did it. Something I've always thought, "someday I'll do that...". I signed up for a 5K next month. A few of my girlfriends are doing it, too. I started "training" last week. This morning I just didn't want to. I thought, "I'll just do it tonight," knowing full well how much I despise working out in the evening. Once I got the kids in bed my desire was even less than it was this morning, but since I've committed to doing the race, I ran anyway. And I went much farther than I was even supposed to. I walked/ran the whole 3.1 miles! And I did it in 39:15 minutes. I'm hoping to shave at least 5-7 minutes off my time by race day when hopefully I can run the whole thing.
The reason I'm writing this, though (on my iPod for that matter), is so I can look back and remember how amazingly proud I am that I did something hard but so good for myself and how fantastic that makes me feel. Going to bed without doing it would have made me feel pretty crappy. Oh how I hope I can remember this feeling. I have never really been a runner, but I am determined to become one.