Run-Around

I can't believe I'm sharing this picture of me, red-faced and sweaty, messy hair, not a trace of makeup on my face.

But I'm pretty proud of this awful picture, because I took it after I ran my first 5k (the wonderful girls at Shrinking Jeans asked me to share my success story over there!) . I wish I could tell you that it was super easy, but there were parts when it was hard. An unexpected steep hill halfway through the course, making me glad that my usual running course has two hills in the last five minutes. Still, I had a stitch in my side from digging in to get up the hill that took me a few minutes to run through. Or the moment when I ran past the table of water at the two mile mark, because my usual runs are almost three miles and I don't drink water during those. Except that after that, all I could think about was how thirsty I was and how good that water would have tasted. Lesson learned: always accept water.

On the flipside, there were some awesome parts. At the first mile marker, the firemen had opened a fire hydrant so the water sprayed up and across the road. Running through the cool water was definitely refreshing and I was so thankful for that. And when I turned the corner into the parking lot and caught sight of the finish line, somehow managing to reach down inside myself and find the energy to run flatout? That was amazing. My goal was to finish in 36 minutes and not walk. I finished in 31 minutes and did not walk, plus I came in 2nd in my age group. Granted, there were only 200 people racing, so it's not like it was a huge selection, but I'm still proud of myself for that.

I never felt like I could call myself a runner before because I mainly ran in place with the wii fit while I was pregnant with Tommy, but after today? I think I might be able to call myself one...or at the very least, a jogger.