May 29, 2010 - My First 5K !!

Well I did it ~ I ran my first 5K. I believe everyone needs to do a race at least once in their life. It was very exciting standing at the starting line waiting for the race to begin. If you don't feel you can run, walk it. There were many walkers at the race last Saturday, even an 8 and 6 year old boy and girl. Kudos to them!! It was very encouraging and all the fear and anxiety before seems foolish now. But at the next race it probably will be there again.

Greg, my sister Martha, and my friend Tammy ran the race with me. All of them had trained for a couple of months. Greg has been running for over a year and he finished his first 5K with the time of 26.42 - I am very proud of him. It took me longer ( a lot longer) I finished in 46.17. Tammy finished around 40 min. and I have to give her props because 3 mornings out of the week she would get up early and go running before work. On days she was not running she was walking. She put the work in and it paid off. I saw her at the bottom of the first hill and that was that, she was gone. Run Tammy Run!! Martha removed all excuses because she has been training for 2 months and really watched her diet - she wouldn't even eat BBQ the night before. Plus, she has asthma and did not let that hinder her in the least, she finished the race. I am very proud of her!

The runners who had finished well before me were running back or standing on the side offering words of encouragement to the runners topping the hill. Such as, "you are almost there", "you have made it", "You are doing great, keep it up", "you are almost at the finish line don't give up now". After Greg finished, he ran back to find me and ran beside me until I could see the finish. At the bottom of the last hill, I told him I didn't think I could make it and then a friend from work (who came to cheer us on) was running down the hill shouting "you are doing great, you are almost there". Just what I needed to go the extra 'mile' (really an extra 1/10 of a mile). We topped the hill and then Greg left me to go get the camera to take my picture crossing the finish line.

I learned a lot in my first 5K
1. Never give up in training - put the work in and it will pay off (I did
not train as much in May)
2. I need to lose weight
3. I need to make better food choices
4. Do not stop just after the finish line to hand race official tab keep moving
5. Go to bathroom before race
6. Wear sunglasses, sunscreen or hat
7. Do not pour water on Ipod
8. Start as close to front as possible
9. Do not slow down to hug people
10. Races can be addictive

My niece Petrovia had to work that day and did not get to run with us but the next time she will.

To view race results visit Terry Times