Run a 5k race

• Other than a light 30 minute run on Friday, I did absolutely NO running and made sure any aerobic activity I did was low impact. I also upped my carbs slightly for maximum glycogen on race day. I know this was only a 5k, but over preparation is how I deal with my unknowns. :)

• High protein and good carbs for dinner
• Surprisingly even with pre-race jitters, I fall asleep easily.

RACE DAY

• Thanks to my lovely CAT who does not come with a snooze alarm, I am awake 15 minutes before the alarm.

• Alarm sounds and I literally BOUNCE out of bed! HB snoozed the alarm for himself and I go about getting his coffee and making him breakfast. It was the perfect activity for me to calm my nerves before I imploded from anxiety. For once, I allow myself to comfort my emotions with food, even if it’s a bowl of cereal.

• We leave for the race, which is only about 5 minutes away.
• My tummy is in knots and I feel like throwing up!!!

• We park and when you talk about Fight or Flight, I am in full Flight mode. I start BAWLING my eyes out. Thank goodness HB has skills when it comes to calming me down. I stop crying right when I realize that my eyes will be puffy in the pics. Vanity ALWAYS wins.

• Beach at this time of morning = FREEZING and I literally climb and cling onto HB like a koala bear for warmth.
• I have never been around this many fit looking people in my life. I feel like a martian who’s just touched down at her home planet.
  
  Starting line
  
  Finish Line

• I brave the cold and take off my jacket for a pic. :):):) (Excuse the no-make up look)
  
  With HB!
  
  Me, braving the cold without my jacket (:O

• OMG do I have to pee or am I just cold??? (I found out that I was cold and nervous. TMI?)

• They call them Olympic stretches, but what they’re really having us do are stupid Mickey Mouse type exercises. I feel even dopier when I start stepping all over myself. I am so uncoordinated!

• Line up at the starting line!
• A couple of people were doing these sprint things at the starting line and the race director told them to stop. I feel intimidated by their fitness. And I am SO SHORT!!
• HB tries to get me in the front of the line for pics, but I am super shy and put myself in the 3rd-4th row.
  

• There’s the horn… MADNESS!
• It’s a small race, but I still feel like a buffalo crossing a river with a herd.

• “PAAAAAAAACE YOURSELF!!!” I say to myself but it’s really hard.
• My right foot feels constricted from my tight laces but I decide to wait it out (thankfully it loosened itself later).
• I felt claustrophic behind these girls so I put my mind to my form and started pumping my arms really hard. I slid past them easy and settled down again.

• Mile 1 split is 7:57 – WHAT!!!!!! I have never broken into the 7 MM area in my entire LIFE!
• I’m getting really nervous as I feel myself slowing down. I am SO cold.
• The sight of HB with the camera calms me down immensely
• To calm my nerves, I look to my right at the ocean. I echo HB’s words to me: “You have nothing to worry about, you’ve done this before.”
• I am using a girl in white as my pacer and my heart sank when she got further away from me. People are passing me now. Lesson: slow the H down next time
• I pass a guy laying on the ground on his back, clutching his left leg. I’m grateful that I am not the one on the ground.
  
  I was right to pick out a pink outfit, right??? LOL

• I am very relieved to see the mile 2 marker, though it seemed to take forever. My watched showed that I clocked in at 8 minute-ish. A quick calculation means I can finish this thing before 28 minutes!
• I can’t find my gusto… WHERE IS MY GUSTO!!!
• Right before mile 3 my pacer went off track and stopped running. I use another pacer – a guy in black and push myself to keep up with him.
  
  I’m a bit embarrassed by the expression on my face…
  
  You can kinda see my glutes jump out of my leg. I’ve never had that kind of definition before!
  

• There is a guy right in front of me…
• It wasn’t until I saw HB at the finish line that I found my strength and sprinted towards the finish line, BLAZING past the guy in front of me! (I realize now how rude that was – oops) I come in hooting and hollering and went straight in for my hug from the #1 in my life who supported me every step of the way: HB
  
  Sprinting… Blazing… Watch out dude! He ended up placing 1 second after me – oops on my part. (I kinda like the way my abs look in this pic heehee)
  
  I’m done!!!
  
  Is it over already???

• They calculated my time at 25:08 and 8:07 pace. Not too far is my net time, which was at 25:05 with a pace of 8:05. This is the fastest I’ve ever run, but I have to account for the fact that I have a rancid amount of hills on my regular route and this was all flat terrain.
• I placed 3rd in my division and #51 out of 215!
• All the men in their 70s were faster than me… LMAO!
• The 2 top male finishers were in their 30s and the two top women were in their 40s – INSPIRING!
• I couldn’t stop smiling. I felt very special when their photographer took lots of pics of me running. :):):)

• This race was a true MILESTONE. I now know that running is my sport and fitness takes a real part of my life.
• I’m debating whether or not to do another 5k in December…
• It was just FOUR months ago that I could barely walk for 30 minutes, let alone run anywhere!

THANK YOU 43T-ers FOR HELPING TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN! With the exception of HB, I did not have anyone to help me get here except for you guys, so you have to know how much your comments and cheers meant to me. Thank you SO much. This is the best community ever!

xoxo

I got some goodies yesterday for Sunday’s race:

Item #1: New race outfit

Matching hat, jogging bra and shorts – all pink pink PINK!!!!! I asked HB to take pics of me in action, and with this lovely outfit, he can’t miss me even if he tried (in short of wearing a siren on my head). And besides, who says you can’t look cute in a race, huh?

Item #2: New waist pack

My old fanny pack was bulky, uncomfortable and frankly, a pain in the fanny (pun intended). Massively annoying. This is a nice meshed pack that I can shove my necessaries (not a word) i.e. phone, inhaler, iPod, ID, etc. minus hinderance. Speaking of carrying stuff, I ordered a RoadID a bit ago, I’m hoping that will arrive before Sunday.

Item #3: SuperFeet

I took the advice of a very experienced runner to get a pair of SuperFeet. You can never be too careful, and I hear knees are important ;-)

Item #4: Watch

Actually I’m getting a cheap one from Target today. To the advice of Bob1623, I will want to calculate my net time. If I happen to find a hot pink one, that will be beyond purrrfection!

Item #5: Quench Gum

Anyone tried this stuff before? My inhaler gives me cotton mouth; I’m hoping this can help allieviate.

Item #5: New Calendar

Not pertinent to the race, but certainly helpful. It’s got tons of good info for a newb like me.

Is it Sunday already???

^{I can’t believe just four months ago I couldn’t even run a QUARTER of a mile!!!}

I just got the information for my first 5k via email.

I AM SO NERVOUS!!!!

(breathing into paper bag)

...is how much I paid to register for the race.

I’m nervous about racing for the first time, but my fingers were shaking too as I clicked to register. HB has plenty of experience with biking in marathons and he said he was nervous with his first too, so I take comfort in knowing that my anxiety is probably normal. I suppose their non-refundable policy helps with the commitment too, as if taking back money from those cancer kids weren’t bad enough!

... is the date of my first race!!!

I’m SO excited.

I’ll be stoked of course to finish it, but dare I wonder: what if I could do it in under 30 min??? :O