Saturday morning I set out to run my first 5K. For a lot of people a 5K is no biggie but it was a huge biggie for me. I only started working out in April after about a five year hiatus. I've actually never been big in to working out. I had never run ever in my life before the last few months. And although I was hoping I would be one of those people who picked it up easily and loved it, I've learned that I'm not that person. I struggle with running and honestly don't like it. But sometimes we have to do things that are hard and sometimes we have to do things we don't like - so I run.
Last week I felt like everything was telling me to back out of the race. A heat wave and an ankle injury made me way less prepared than I wanted to be heading into it but I knew I had to do it. When the horn blew at the start and I took off with the pack of runners I felt amazing. I couldn't believe what I was doing - I was RUNNING in a RACE. It felt so great. That great feeling lasted about 3/4 of a mile before it was taken over by the WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING??? thought that remained with me for the rest of the race. I feel like marathon runners hit "the wall" around mile 20 or so. I hit it before mile 1! It was so hot, so so hot. I ended up having to do a run/walk combo in order to get through it. I felt like it was never going to end. I literally remember thinking that it was the worst thing I had ever done in my life and that I'd rather go through natural childbirth again. Dramatic? Perhaps, but totally what I was thinking!
I ended up finishing the race at 41:01 with a 13:13 pace. It was slower than I wanted but since it was my first one and given the heat I'm happy with it. After I finished, sat for a few minutes, and downed several water bottles, that amazing feeling that I had at the beginning of the race returned. Umm...hello...I had just RUN a RACE! It's honestly something I never thought that I would do. I was on a high from it for the rest of the day. Oh, and my ankle held up great for the run. I iced it when I got home because it was starting to bother me but not as bad as I thought it might. So yeah, first 5K done and a total success (minus the heat and minus the whole wanting to shoot myself on the course part)!
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| Who just ran a 5K? This girl! |
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| This was the temperature at 9:45am when I crossed the finish line- HOT! |
