I'm crazy...

...I signed up to do a 5k...with 3 weeks to get ready for it.

I'm not a runner. Dancers typically aren't. So, getting ready for a 5k (3.1 miles) race was pretty terrifying and hard for me. I realize to some of you crazy runners out there that run 10 miles every other day, this sounds pretty silly but running has never been my strength.

We trained by running 1.5 miles the first two days, then bumping it up to 2 miles, then 2.5 miles, then 3.1 the couple days before the race. I had 3 other friends that ran the race with me. Rachel said she ran her last 5k in 37 min. so her goal was to be under that time and that sounded like a good goal to me. Karen said her goal was to finish without dying (silly girl), and Shawna just wanted to finish without going into labor (she is like 7 1/2 months pregnant. Yes, she is a super star).

We ran the Lakewood Sheriff's Community 5K/10K on Saturday. We carpooled and got there at about 7:15. We checked in, picked up our shirts, clipped on the timing chip, and did some warm ups.

While we were doing all of that none of us had a watch and finally we decided to go look for the starting line. We almost missed the start! We got to the line at 7:57am and the race started at 8! That would have been embarrassing. We started at the front to avoid all of the strollers and before I could finish freaking out it started.

And we were off. Rachel and I took off at a pretty good clip. Did you know I'm competitive? Well, I am, and I don't really liked being passed by an 80 year old and a man pushing a double stroller. Grrrrr. Anyway we got to the 1.1 mile marker and we were under 10 min! That is WAY faster then we ever run at the gym. No wonder I couldn't breath.

The hardest mile for me was the second one. That was about the time that I started thinking "What. In. The. World. Was. I. Thinking?" "This is officially the dumbest thing I have ever done" "I know I'm pretty close to where my brother-in-law lives. Maybe he could drive me to the finish line". Luckily I had Rachel there and without her I probably would have started walking. The whole time I felt like I was holding her back. So, when we hit the 3 mile mark I told her that I really wanted her to go for it for the last .1. She told me to do the same and so we pushed through. When we saw the finish line we took any energy we had left and sprinted as fast as we could to the finish line. (at this point I pretty much couldn't feel my legs)

We finished in 32 min! That is a pace of 10:33/mile! Holy cow, where did that come from? We tried running a 10 min mile on the treadmill and we could only do 1 mile. I placed #161 and Rachel was not even a second behind at #162 out of 407! Not bad for my first race.

After we finished we couldn't stop walking. Personally I was thinking that I was going to stop breathing and pass out but we walked once around the trade show that was there and then went back to cheer Karen and Shawna on. Karen came around the corner in no time and we decided to cross the finish line with her. She did great! Then Shawna came next and we finished with her too. Poor thing was having contractions but finished under an hour and not in last place. She is the toughest pregnant lady I know.

I haven't gone through natural labor before but I will have to compare it to running the race in a couple ways. Nervous, anxious, excited right before it starts. Wondering what in the world was I thinking in the middle. On cloud nine when it is over. And kind of forgetting how horrible it was because you feel so happy and proud at the end.

This was a huge fear of mine and that is why it was on my list of goals for this year. I literally had nightmares leading up to it. So, it may have been a small race but to me it was a huge accomplishment.

(check out my awesome new running shoes!)

I don't have any pictures of us running yet. I know they were taking some so as soon as I find them I will post them.

Thanks for reading my long post!