On Saturday, March 10th, I accomplished one of my biggest goals I set for myself through my weight loss journey.
I ran a 5K without stopping!
The Fire Department Dan works for held a "Fire House 5K for Autism." There were 255 participants and we all raised over $5,000 for Touch Point, an awesome autism organization! It was a huge success and I'm sure it will be an annual event from here on.
I ran with my husband and 4 of our good friends. I had trained for 10 weeks and was well aware that I am very SLOW so I told all my buddies that it would not hurt my feelings if they ran ahead of me and left me in their dust. :) Within the first half mile, 3 of them had sped off and both of my shoes came untied...
I was tempted to stop and tie them, but decided that as long as they weren't falling off I was going to keep on running. Luckily enough, I had pulled the laces pretty tight when I tied them so they stayed on the entire time.
After a mile, another one of my friends sped away from me and the other one began walking. I was now on my own and second-to-last within our little group of 6.
I had been told that 5K's are more mental than anything else. That was true!
I found myself thinking about how loud my music was and maybe I should stop to turn it down or finally tie my shoes. I wondered why it seemed like I had been running forever and when the finish line was going to be in sight. I thought about how I would never catch up with my 4 friends ahead of me. But something in me just kept going. My goal was to run this thing without stopping!
It was only 38* the morning of the run so I prepared myself with gloves and ear muffs. Even though it was chilly, I was really starting to warm up. I pulled my ear muffs off and wrapped them around my arm. I took my gloves off and just held them in my hand. I even rolled my sleeves up as much as I could. There was a slight breeze and I really appreciated it at this time.
There was a pretty good hill towards the end and the girls around me started walking up it. I told myself that even if I was jogging at their pace, I was not going to walk. I ended up passing one of the girls and as I gained up on the other one she started running again and I could not catch up to her. The girl I had initially passed ended up passing me once she started running again so I was in the same spot I started out in...but I did not walk!
As I neared the fire house, our good friend Chuck was there taking pictures of us with his camera!
(Thanks Chuck! You know how I am with scrap booking!) :)
He and his kids cheered me on and I even got a high-five from one of them!
As I finished, Dan was waiting for me at the finish line! I felt SO GOOD and I was SO HAPPY to have him there supporting me!
He had just ran a 31 minute 5K with absolutely NO training too! Good job, Dan!
My official time was 34 minutes and 7 seconds, which figures up to about 11 minute miles.
I came in 120th out of 255 participants.
In my age group (30-39), I finished 15th out of 53!
In my friend group of 6, I came in 5th...and the 6th place person hadn't trained at all.
However, I was VERY pleased with all of this!
I mean considering that 10 weeks prior to this, I was 18 pounds heavier and couldn't run longer than 1 minute straight. I had come a LONG way and I was so proud of myself! It's also nice that I'm not a very competitive person so I really didn't care that other people beat me! :)
Now that I have done this, I want to keep this running thing up. I am not a good (or fast) runner, but it has helped me to lose weight and get my heart pumping a few times a week. It has improved my endurance and blood sugars, as well.
I have decided (along with Dan and at least two of our good friends) that we are going to try and run 3-4 5K's a year now! I'm so excited! Our next one will be in May! This will keep me motivated to keep going.
Here's my workout/running buddy, Jacinda! :)
I honestly have no desire to run more than a 5K because running can be kind of boring, but I just feel so empowered by doing this! This was a MAJOR accomplishment for me!
I never thought in a million years that I could ever run a 5K without stopping...but I did it!!!!
I hope this inspires you to pursue something you want to achieve. The sky is the limit and YOU are the only person stopping yourself from accomplishing things you want in life!
Anyone want to join me in my next 5K? I won't get mad if you beat my time, I promise! :)
After a mile, another one of my friends sped away from me and the other one began walking. I was now on my own and second-to-last within our little group of 6.
I had been told that 5K's are more mental than anything else. That was true!
I found myself thinking about how loud my music was and maybe I should stop to turn it down or finally tie my shoes. I wondered why it seemed like I had been running forever and when the finish line was going to be in sight. I thought about how I would never catch up with my 4 friends ahead of me. But something in me just kept going. My goal was to run this thing without stopping!
It was only 38* the morning of the run so I prepared myself with gloves and ear muffs. Even though it was chilly, I was really starting to warm up. I pulled my ear muffs off and wrapped them around my arm. I took my gloves off and just held them in my hand. I even rolled my sleeves up as much as I could. There was a slight breeze and I really appreciated it at this time.
There was a pretty good hill towards the end and the girls around me started walking up it. I told myself that even if I was jogging at their pace, I was not going to walk. I ended up passing one of the girls and as I gained up on the other one she started running again and I could not catch up to her. The girl I had initially passed ended up passing me once she started running again so I was in the same spot I started out in...but I did not walk!
As I neared the fire house, our good friend Chuck was there taking pictures of us with his camera!
(Thanks Chuck! You know how I am with scrap booking!) :)
He and his kids cheered me on and I even got a high-five from one of them!
As I finished, Dan was waiting for me at the finish line! I felt SO GOOD and I was SO HAPPY to have him there supporting me!
He had just ran a 31 minute 5K with absolutely NO training too! Good job, Dan!
This is us shortly after I crossed the finish line:
My official time was 34 minutes and 7 seconds, which figures up to about 11 minute miles.
I came in 120th out of 255 participants.
In my age group (30-39), I finished 15th out of 53!
In my friend group of 6, I came in 5th...and the 6th place person hadn't trained at all.
However, I was VERY pleased with all of this!
I mean considering that 10 weeks prior to this, I was 18 pounds heavier and couldn't run longer than 1 minute straight. I had come a LONG way and I was so proud of myself! It's also nice that I'm not a very competitive person so I really didn't care that other people beat me! :)
Now that I have done this, I want to keep this running thing up. I am not a good (or fast) runner, but it has helped me to lose weight and get my heart pumping a few times a week. It has improved my endurance and blood sugars, as well.
I have decided (along with Dan and at least two of our good friends) that we are going to try and run 3-4 5K's a year now! I'm so excited! Our next one will be in May! This will keep me motivated to keep going.
Here's my workout/running buddy, Jacinda! :)
I honestly have no desire to run more than a 5K because running can be kind of boring, but I just feel so empowered by doing this! This was a MAJOR accomplishment for me!
I never thought in a million years that I could ever run a 5K without stopping...but I did it!!!!
I hope this inspires you to pursue something you want to achieve. The sky is the limit and YOU are the only person stopping yourself from accomplishing things you want in life!
Anyone want to join me in my next 5K? I won't get mad if you beat my time, I promise! :)
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