I Conquered The 5K!

I ran my first 5K today with an unofficial time of 46:30. It's like the biggest accomplishment of my life. I feel like I've slain a dragon!

This is what the experience was like...

I was a nervous wreck from the moment I woke up. "I can't do this." "I'm not going." "I'm not ready for this." But I forced myself out the door because I wanted to prove to myself that I could do this!

I got to the race site at 7:40 for registration, which took about 20 seconds. I then had 50 minutes before the race began. Plenty of time to get more and more anxious.

Finally, the runners assembled. Someone with a megaphone gave instructions but he sounded like Charlie Brown's teacher. I couldn't understand a word he said. And the horn blasted and we were off!

Everyone left me in the dust rather quickly except for one woman who was just a few paces ahead of me. About half a block down, a whole crowd of people was waiting to cheer the runners. When the phys ed teacher from the elementary school saw me, she went wild. That felt pretty phenomenal.

And then I just ran. I couldn't even see the other runners anymore except for that one woman who was still just ahead of me. But there was a cop car following the race because it was on the streets, and I felt pretty stupid with the chief of police right behind me the whole time!

I kinna lost track of the music which I had set up to know how far to run and when to walk. I ran the first mile without stopping, and that shocked me because the furthest I'd run when practicing was 3/4 of a mile. The pace guy at the mile marker shouted that I was doing a 14 minute pace. Very slow for most people, right on target for me.

The second mile I did walk/run intervals. The sun was blazing and I was getting very hot. And my legs were aching something fierce. About halfway through the second mile, my niece met me and walked with me for awhile. She ran cross country in high school and had lots of advice and encouragement, and that was just super fantastic.

I ran all of the third mile. I got into this weird zone where all I was thinking was, "Keep going, keep going, keep going, keep going." I stopped thinking about much I hurt and how hot I was and how much further I had to go.

Then I entered the athletic field where the last part of the race was to run one lap around the track. Everyone was screaming and cheering and I started thinking, "Oh! Wow! I'm really gonna do this!"

I crossed the finish line and when I stopped running I had this weird moment of dizzy disorientation. I really thought I was gonna pass out. My heart was thundering and the whole world was spinning but all I really cared about was that I did it! I ran a 5k!

About 500 feet from the finish line, the local cable channel was interviewing the runners. I could barely breathe and I was dripping sweat and all I remember saying was that I was really hot and the race was really hot. Ha! That's gonna look great on T.V.

The whole experience was just freakin' awesome! Hard to believe that 6 weeks ago I couldn't even run for 45 seconds.

After the race. A very very long shower - cold then warm then cold. It felt glorious. Then I went to the diner and had an enormous not-on-plan breakfast. Fried eggs. Bacon. And hash browns. And a pancake. With maple syrup. Then I came home and took a nap for an hour and a half.

I FEEL SO ALIVE AND SO REAL IN SO MANY WAYS!