My Very First 5K~ Success!

I can't lie, I am so ridiculously proud of myself at this moment I can hardly put it into words. I am just under 6 feet tall, and have been an athlete my whole life. I play on rec sports teams even now. With this being said, I played sports (basketball, volleyball, and softball) where long distance running was NOT on the coniditioning regimen! Don't get me wrong, we ran, and ran a lot, but most of it was sprinting...

Fast forward about 10 years and roughly 50 pounds later... I decided to get myself out of the bad health hole I was heading down and take my health back. After losing some weight I started telling myself it would be a good thing to try to teach myself how to run and try to ENJOY it! Enter the C25K program. I was skeptical of it at first, "I don't need a program, I can do this on my own..." but about 6 weeks into it, I was really liking my progress and I signed up for my very first race (The Y-Me Race at Your Pace in downtown Chicago on Mother's Day)! I was super nervous and very excited all at the same time.

I did all my training on my treadmill, and came to the realization that running outdoors on the street is QUITE a different experience when I did a trial 5K run outdoors last Friday after work... And it was rough, but at least I knew what I was in for on Sunday. So, I could harldy sleep at all on Saturday night, and I got up at 5:30am on Sunday to get ready and headed downtown. I met my best friend and went to meet the rest of the team.




We went through the pinning of the race bibs (running for my aunt and my friend who are survivors) and took some pictures and then headed over to the starting area. There were about 30,000 people around volunteering and running/walking in the race... so it was pretty intense! The race started and off we went. It was invigorating and I hadn't even THOUGHT about walking until about 1.5 miles into it... My friend was super encouraging and so supportive keeping me going the whole time! It was amazing. When I wanted to give up running and just walk for a while... a little girl who was probably 10... ran by me and did a CARTWHEEL and then kept running... And I thought to myself, "Suck it up sister!!! She is 10 and she is beating you~ with some acrobatics in between~" So, I ran... and I kept running... And I am proud to say that I SPRINTED the last couple blocks to the finish!



I may have run slowly, and I admit I did walk about 3 times for a few seconds each time, but I did it! I finished it and I am so proud. 3 months ago I could walk and walk and walk.... but I couldn't run for more than a minute or two at a time. And yesterday... I ran for 37 minutes and 3.1 miles. I am in awe of myself and my abilities. It just takes a little grit and determination and plenty of love and support along the way, and you really can do anything you set your mind to. You.Just.Have.To.Try!