Race day!!

Race day has came and went!!! It was amazing, so here's the race story::

When I first started out my journey of losing weight, I had been interested in running, but too afraid to start. So I did other workouts, which at the time was great. But I knew that, eventually, I wanted to be able to run. My first thought really was that I wanted to run a mile. So I started looking for running programs, and pretty much everyone I saw was doing C25K. I thought to myself how cool it would be to run a 5K. I had done some before where I walked/ran, but it was almost entirely walk. What I would run, would leave me exhausted. So, I set a goal (sometime this summer) to run the Jingle Bell Run in December.

Fortunately, another race popped up on the calendar. It was about 30 minutes from my home, I couldn't resist. I rounded up my mom, who had also been running, and my aunt. We signed up and I told everyone my goal was to run the whole thing.

Right before the race, say two weeks before, I was really sick and could barely run a mile without coughing up a lung. I was terrified I wouldn't be able to do this one. It hurt so bad and whilst training, I literally could barely push through to three miles without being sick. Fortunately, I was a lot better by race time. A few coughs here and there, but nothing too serious.

We go get our bibs and chips, use the bathroom, and get our iPods ready before the race. It was finally about to start, we were really nervous, but in a good way. The people start running and we are at a good pace. Slow. Steady. We were smiling and everything.

The first hill was the monster, and it wasn't but a half mile in. I made the executive decision to walk the hill if I was going to be able to run the rest. In hindsight, I still think it was a good call. We only had to walk a few times, and it wasn't for barely anytime. I'm talking no more than 3 minutes of the whole race we walked. I was really proud of us.

And like always, that first mile was the hardest. When we got to the last half it was coming fairly easy, thankfully. We were high fiving smokey the bear and Uncle Sam. People were being supportive and yelling for us. I absolutely love race atmosphere.

We sprinted the last little .1 out, it always amazes me what you have on reserve to bust you through the finish line. We were super excited and our time was about 41 minutes. That's not bad at all and it was my PR. We had about a 13 1/2 minute pace, which I was happy with.

The next goal is to completely run the Jingle Bell Run and hopefully be under 40 minutes. I've decided to stick with 5ks for now. I'm not as interested in doing a 10K as I am improving my 5k time.   You have to know what is right for you, and this is definitely what is right. I'm ready to get to doing more HIIT training, so I'm throwing that in with the three miles, instead of just doing six miles.

I hope everyone stays inspired to do big things, and to keep with what you are doing now. It's amazing how far you will go in time. In August, I could not even run for five minutes straight without being exhausted. Now, I can run 5ks. You will get to where you want to be. Patience, practice, dedication.

Also, I'll have some pictures soon! I'm hoping to do another post (or 2) on Monday. Be on the lookout for it, it'll be a good one.

PICTURES HERE:::