First 5k--Success!!

(this is long, sorry...but I am too excited and I need to tell people... my family is tired of me talking about it already!! haha!)

I decided a few months ago that I needed to get motivated to exercise. So one night on a whim I signed up for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, but not just the walking part... I decided this year I wanted to run the 5k.

So for at least 8 long weeks I ran, and ran, and ran .... and ran ( you get the idea). I ran a few 5ks on the treadmill never doing better than 35:10.

I ran the exact race I would be running and did it in 36 flat. I was super proud of that!!

As the race drew closer I began to question myself and how well I had trained. The week of the race I ran my last 5k before the actual one and had a time of 34:17. I was STOKED, but it was on the treadmill so I wanted to add at least 2 minutes to that time.

As with all things you want to be successful at I got soo nervous this morning. I took my breakfast with me so that I could eat it an hour before I took to the road, I didn't stretch as much as I should have but there were people EVERY WHERE! It was crazy how many people took off around me, I felt like all the other racers were passing me!! lol (I might have kept looking back to make sure that I wasn't last! haha)

The course that we run is 1.5 miles each way. My first goal I accomplished is that I ran 1.5 miles in a little over 15mins!!! So--I was feeling pretty good about my time... after that I walked not even a .25 of a mile and I started to push myself again so I took off running again. I wanted to see the Start/Finish line SOOO BADLY!! I knew the land marks across the River to be able to tell about how far I had to go...

The last 50ft or so I sprinted, I wanted to sprint more than that but I was dragging so much! I knew that I had never pushed myself to run this hard before! I glanced over at the time before I crossed and it said 33:02! (my official ended up being 33:01!) -- I couldn't breathe....I knew I needed to keep walking to catch my breath but my family was standing there waiting to congratulate me and frankly my legs wouldn't work anymore!! LOL

I wanted to jump up and down scream yell and tell everyone that I DID IT! But so had everyone else that crossed that line so really, they didn't care! BUT I DID ... LOL

33:01 -- my fastest 5k time EVER!! I can't believe that I ran that much and ran that fast during the race! I can not believe that I had success... I looked the official results up and I was 553 out of 751 and 22 out of my age group. By most people standards and compared to everyone else I didn't do the best, but I know that without a doubt I did MY VERY BEST!!

I am soo proud of myself!! This is a true success story for me!!! =D