We Did It!!

Yep, that's right - today Sarah, Tracy, Michelle, Donnelle, Mindy and I ran the Earth Day 5k bright and early and around 43 degrees! The day before was one of the windiest days ever and we were all a little concerned that if it didn't die down, the run could be brutal. Thankfully, it wasn't too bad. It was windy, but not terrible. There were about 100 or so runners signed up for the 5k but I think several backed out because of the temperature.

At 8:00 a.m. they kicked off the race and the 6 of us turned on our ipods and hit the road. Sarah and I stayed together the whole race - we had our pace down and it was fun to have someone run right along side of me. Her ipod has an app that would tell her the pace and distance so every once in a while she would let me know how we were doing. I wasn't too thrilled with her first report telling me we hadn't even gone a half mile and I was already feeling the pain. Started getting a little concerned at that point that I may not make it through. HA! It wasn't until around 1.5 miles that my body really warmed up and I pushed past that painful feeling and got into a groove. From there on out, it was pretty easy. When I first started running, I remember Mike telling me that I would hit a wall and feel like I would have to stop and walk and if I could just push through that then I'd be able to keep going and it's so true. You get to a point when you are running that it becomes mind over matter. Some days, my mind doesn't win. :)

The last 1/2 mile of the race was around a lake and it was a pretty narrow path. We were running single file and Sarah was in front of me and another lady was in front of her. Sarah was trying to pass and the lady wouldn't let her around. Finally, Sarah just blew by her and then I did, too. I think she was trying to beat us, but we didn't let her. :) I don't know our official times, but the clock read 29 minutes 15 sec. as I was crossing through the finish line. Sarah was the first to cross in our group - Great job, girl!

We watched the rest of the girls come through the finish line just seconds and minutes behind us. It was such a great feeling and such a great accomplishment! I was so proud of everyone! I don't know what it is about doing these races, but it really is fun. You'd think that getting up early on a Saturday morning to go run 3.1 miles wouldn't be fun, but it is always great. I love the feeling. I love getting together with friends and sharing the moment. You train and prepare for it and most of the time the training is done alone. So, when you finally get to run with a group of friends on the big day, it's just exciting!

I can't wait for our next race. We are running again on May 7th and that time there are even more girls joining us! I'm already pumped about it!

Oh and just one funny thing - last night I was thinking about the race today and ended up having 2 funny dreams. My first one was when I got to the finish line, Sarah had won the whole race - she finished in 18 minutes! HA! Then, I went into another dream - it was race day and I got to the start line and they told me I had to take some sort of pill before I could run. But, I could only take it with chicken and biscuits. I was so upset because I didn't have any chicken and biscuits and didn't know where to get some. I was really freaking out in my dream. I prepared so hard for this race and then wasn't going to be able to run because I didn't have the right food to take with my pill. Too funny! I must have been nervous last night - well, that or hungry! :)

Good job today, girls! I'm glad we were able to do this together. Looking forward to the next one! I'll make sure and have some chicken minis with me - just in case!