Fat to 5k: July 4th 5k race report

I’ve been been on MFP for 11 months now. I’ve lost 95 lbs up to this point. I started 2-3 months ago to jog. Mainly to help get past a plateau. I’ve done a couple un-official 5k’s around my house but that is going just off my phones GPS. I figured the only way to find out what I can do is sign up for a legit 5k, so that’s what I did. 7am I showed up at the park ready to go and have no clue what was about to happen. This is a first for me but I wasn’t the least bit nervous. I was just happy I showed up on time. LoL I told my wife in the car I only had a few goals for today: 1. Don’t die, 2. Jog the entire thing, 3. Finish under 44 mins. On a hs running track I finished around 44:30 and that was over a month ago. I figured since I’m actually in a race, I might pick up the pace some. Granted it was 90+ deg out by this point. This was very, VERY different from running alone.

Gun shot, which is something that is not uncommon in KY, and off we went. Emotional roller coaster starts to kick in that this is real and I just started my first 5k. It was more of a “WOW!” moment that I was really doing this. It took a little over a min for me to get to the starting line. Once I crossed it the first thing I had to do is weave in and out of the walkers who wanted to start up front. Small hill to start and once I was on the main road I just tried to find my pace. At mile marker one I hear “14:35”. Side note: my fastest ever mile was 13:50. It didn’t click that it took me over a min to get to the line. I was feeling good even with the heat so I just kept pace. I didn’t feel like I was pushing too hard and I knew at the halfway point I had a minor hill to battle with.

First you get to go down that hill which was nice since at the bottom you got a cup of water. Normally I don’t drink while just doing a few miles but with the heat I figured better safe than sorry. I figured I was having a solid race so far so I backed off the gas just a tic uphill. Mile marker 2 I heard “28:30”. HUH? Did I hear that right? Well so far so good then for beating my 44 min mark but still 1.1 miles to go. I picked up a little speed till about a .5 mile to go. At the 3 mile marker all I heard was “40:xx” and the pedal went to the floor. It was downhill to the finish line and if I passed out now, at least the paramedics were right there. lol

I took a photo about 20 foot from the finish line with 42:40 on the clock. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I just crushed my 44 min goal. Tag got cut off my shoe, walked over to my family then remembered to stop my watch. CRAP! Stopped it at 42:50 and just realized I might actually be sub 42 mins. I had to wait till they published the results online to see exactly what I did. 41:26! HOLY $%@! I was blown away. My Dad said I should be proud of what I did today. Which my reply was, “I am”. 11 months ago I weighed 340 lbs and couldn’t jog .25 mile. Today I just did 3.1 in a race for the first time in my life with a new PR! Yeah I know but hey it’s a PR. Map My Run showed my last mile was 13:02. Unreal…

To top a great day off, they had a little kid’s race. My 3 year old son ran in it. Go about 10-15 yards around a cone and back. His Mommy asked, “Roger do you want me to run with you?” “NO!” lol He ran right with the kids around the cone and back to the finish line. “Daddy, look I got a gold medal! I beat you!” That’s my boy. I couldn’t be more proud of today’s results. This shows if you set your mind to it, anything can be accomplished.

Celebration is over tonight. Tomorrow its time to get back to work. Less then 35 days till that 1 year mark and 5 more lbs that need to go.