5k Race

Today I ran my second 5k of the year and it went well. Compared to last year, today was so much better. Not only was my time better (33:15 - 8th place in my age group, woohoo!) but the whole experience was incredible. I loved that I ran with my friend Cami and my husband. They both did so amazing that I couldn't have been more proud of them. When we started the race, I even got a little teary-eyed seeing my husband running alongside us. He was such a good sport to do this with me and it made the experience all the more memorable.

So along with my fabulous counterparts, I loved the event coordinators and volunteers for the race. Having only done one other race out of town, the people here do a much better job. Everyone is so willing to help you and cheer you on. And their organization was perfect and I LOVE organized people! This year was the best in the food department. They had a larger drink/food selection and even added ice cream! That alone earned them an A+ in my book lol!

Overall, it was wonderful and I'm glad I could participate yet again. Given I'm not pregnant around this time of year, I'm going to make this run an annual tradition. I'm even thinking about doing the 10k for next year, but that's a whole different story. :)

My second 5k!

This past Saturday was the big day of my 5k race. It started at 7am and I woke up focused and ready to go. I grabbed a big glass of water and a piece of bread before we headed out. When we showed up, we waited only 10 minutes before the race began. I love the euphoria of the whole event, especially at the beginning when everyone is stoked. It's my favorite part, next to crossing the finish line. :D Learning from my previous 5k, I didn't start out with a sprint and kept a steady pace.

This worked well especially as the hill I was so worried about was right in front of me. With a positive attitude, up I went. And you know what? The hill wasn't near as bad as I made it out to be. At the gym, I could only run for 3 minutes before stopping and then I needed at least a minute break before starting again. But at the race, I ran 8 minutes on the hill before I needed a quick stop. Later, after another quick break, the hardest part of the run was over and the hill was done! Woohoo!

Mile two wasn't that bad either. There was one hill I had to take a quick break on but it was pretty easy. Then the last mile was all down hill and was total cake! SIL T gave SIL V and me the best advice on running downhill. She said lean backwards, not forward like most people do, and let the momentum propel you. This also helps relieve a lot of pressure on the knees. This worked fabulous for us and I felt my body relaxing so much that I could, surprisingly, have a normal conversation while running.

We rounded the last corner and saw the finish line. I couldn't believe we were almost done because the run was so much easier than I anticipated! We kicked it in the last little bit and crossed the finish line, SIL V two seconds ahead of me (she was awesome and so was my other SIL and niece who finished three minutes ahead of us!). My husband told me later that the announcer told everyone our names as we were running in to finish and he added, "I bet they are related!" which I thought was pretty funny.

Anyway, the race was great. I'm still happy just thinking about it, lol! We finished with a time of 37 minutes which I'm thrilled with because it's 2 minutes faster than my normal workout time. There is one thing I learned from this race, not to do in my next one. Don't eat just water and a piece of bread beforehand. After I crossed the finished line, I threw up a little, and I know it was from that. But otherwise, it was perfect! :)

Despite the "board-ness"

And stiffness, I did try and run a 5k tonight with my SIL. I didn't beat my personal best of 32 minutes and 30 seconds mentioned here, but my time was relatively close, at 37 minutes. I've only really been serious about running and exercising again just this past month, so I figure 37 minutes isn't too shabby.

I'm starting to get nervous about my upcoming race though. Did you know it's in 28 days?!?! I better whip this body into gear otherwise my eight year old niece and my SIL's are going to kick my booty! Beth, Kara, Mimo? I hope you guys are stocking up because we have four weeks before the deadline and I'm, er, you're in need of sugar. Lots of it. ;)

Running again

I am so stoked that one of my sister-in-laws has started running again. She came up recently so we went for a run. It felt so good to be running again after almost two months. I can’t run in cold weather very well so that’s been a big hinder recently. My SIL is coming up again in a few weeks and will be staying for awhile so we plan on running a lot together. She recently moved, I don't know if she used a real estate agent or not, but she didn't move any closer to me darn it. I know we would have so much fun together if she was closer. :)