Faster Than ..... Crap, Not Quite As Fast As that 60-Something Year Old Lady!

I ran my very first 5K! And, I have the keychain and t-shirt to prove it. My dear Aunt ran it with me and was a champion. I really don’t know how to go into details about the run… It was fun. There were a bunch of people cheering us on. We weren’t last (YES!) AND it was an awesome way to spend the Fourth of July.

I am so proud of myself for actually accomplishing my goal. I am going to keep running because I love it (and I really like the way it is making me look). For those who want to run a 5K, here was my secret. There were a bunch of seasoned runners around. Whenever I wanted to quit, or start walking or just wanted to start going a little faster, I would focus on a great pair of legs.

I know, that sounds funny, but I would find a woman with legs I would kill for and I would follow those legs. It’s great motivation to see what you want to be right in front of, and know that you can be that person with amazing legs if you just keep on running!

Before the 5K, I started reading about the route. You can believe me when I say that I shouted some interesting things when I came across, “The last ½ mile is an incline.” Who’s idea was it to make the LAST half mile an incline? By that point I was already breathing hard. I was really focusing on this woman’s awesome legs and I still wanted to give up. But, I conquered the incline. Take that stupid hill.

And there was one point where this 60-something year old lady totally passed me… That was rather demoralizing. But, I bolstered up my self-esteem and ran past it. 

 Another nice thing was, my husband had made this really cool t-shirt for me to wear that said “There is strong, there is army strong and then there is Army WIFE strong” on the back. I had people cheering me on and thanking me for our sacrifice. It was nice to know I wasn’t alone and had an entire community supporting us.

The whole experience was rather funny. My husband and I (with several of my younger siblings) camped out on the parade route. No one got much sleep. I got a total of about 3 ½ hours. I didn’t eat much the night before, or the morning of the race, and my Aunt and I had to walk a very fast mile to the starting line (we were kinda late, which is normal for me). And then we had to walk a mile and a half back to the parade route.

Needless to say, the Fourth of July was a looooong day. But it was awesome! It feels so great to accomplish things I didn’t think were possible. I’m a runner guys! Who’da thunk it?

 Ok, maybe I'm not quite up to Cheetah speed quite yet. But I will be! Just you wait.