Well I finally did it! I ran my first 5K yesterday. YEA for me! It was called the Brat & Brew in a local town, and it’s their third year of doing this run. After you do the run what happens is that you get a bratwurst and a beer for finishing. Daryl said that it was a lot of work just for a beer and a sandwich, but I know that he was just teasing me. Our town’s 5K run next week, and Kyle has to leave on Wednesday so he won’t be able to join William and I in that race. And since Kyle enjoys running, we went and did this one while he was still home. I have to admit that I was pretty anxious about the whole thing. I mean, for someone who really never ran until about 2 weeks ago, there is a lot to be nervous about right? And to top it off, I’ve never ran the whole 3.1 miles before. I’ve ran 3 miles twice, so I figured it should be OK. I didn’t want to tell too many people just in case it wasn’t going to go very good. So after work, I came home and was trying to figure out just what to wear. Now I’m sure that anything would be OK, but I wanted to blend in and try to seem like I knew what I was doing. I finally found my SPAM museum shirt and some shorts, and then I was set. Next, I added some makeup so I would look somewhat put together and then my shoes went on. I was ready to go and realized that it was only 5:00. Yea, the race started at 7! Do you think I was just a little anxious? So I kind of hovered around the house and made a quick sandwich to eat. Finally it was time to leave and with William wishing us luck, Kyle and I headed to town. When we registered I told myself that we really didn’t need the shirt that you get, but we thought that the shirts were pretty cool and ended up buying one for each of us. I mean, I needed some kind of trophy right? So now it’s getting closer to the starting time and also the anticipation is growing. What do I do next? Oh my gosh, bathroom break! Yea, too much water from 5 to 7 pm I think. The boys are always after me to keep hydrated and drink more water and I might have overdone it a little. As we were listening to the National Anthem being sung, I stood there with I’m sure a scared to death look on my face, and I couldn’t also help to think how kind of crazy this all was. I mean, when can you get around 400 people to pay $20 to run around a town for a sandwich and a beer right? I wasn’t sure how everyone gets lined up and the boys said that people line up in a 5K on how you want to run the race. The serious runners are in front, and as you go back to the line, the last people are the walkers. So we positioned ourselves somewhat towards the middle and waited for the firetruck to blow it’s horn to start the race. All of a sudden it went off and Kyle looked at me and smiled and said… ‘Let’s go!” OK we’re off. It started out pretty good and we were at a good pace, but after a couple of times going up and down some hills in town, I soon just found a pace that I thought that I wouldn’t die at. I also was sweating so bad that I thought just why in the heck did I even wear any makeup! My face gets so red and I always think I look like I just came from a lava pit or something but I kept chugging along. Kyle gave me a lot of encouragement during the race and I was really greatfull that he was there with me for this first run. I said that he didn’t have to wait for me because I was a lot slower than him, but he said he wanted to run with me to help keep the pace. As we were getting to the end, I thought to myself.. Thank God! I tried to pick up the pace a little and I think I might have done it just a smidge. My goal was to finish the race in 30 minutes, but I ended up finishing it in under 34 minutes. 33 minutes and 54 seconds I think was the exact time. But guess what? I finished it. When I just went across the finish line and Kyle looked at me and gave me two high fives, I couldn’t help to feel proud that I did it and also how proud of both our boys for helping me. Now to get ready for next week. William and some of my family is running in that one. Humm.. I wonder what I should wear?
Looking tough after my first 5K!