Trek for Teens...My First 5K!

I did it. I really did it! Yesterday I went and signed up for my first 5K and wondered what exactly I had gotten myself into. I told you previously that I was preparing for this road race. I had only given myself about three weeks to train, which isn't very much! But given what I had accomplished in those few weeks, I did a pretty good job!

Carver and Emma were there, along with our Aunt Tish, cheering me on. Before I began the race I thought, "If I just finish this I will be happy with myself. I don't care what I place or who comes out ahead of me." When I actually began running, it was a very different story. I very much cared how I placed! But I also realized that the people around me were running at a much quicker pace that I was accustomed to! I began to get worried that I was in the back of the group. A seasoned runner who seemed like he was just out for his daily walk stopped at my pace for a few minutes to chat (which I eventually just had to stop talking because while he could do that comfortably, I certainly could not!) and assured me that we weren't in the back. I wasn't so sure he was telling me the truth because I didn't see anyone behind me any of the twenty times I turned around to check!

During the last mile there was this kid....oh, this kid. He was a young teenage guy and he kept stopping to walk and then just as I would go to pass him he would sprint out ahead of me. Over and over this went on. During the last 1/2 mile this woman that I assume was a coach of his (or a really crazy mother) came out and kept pushing him along. He said he had a cramp, he kept stopping, but she just kept pushing, pushing, pushing. People along the way kept telling me "the finish line is just around the corner!" Ok, I must have come around five corners and there was still no finish line! At least, it felt like that! In the end me and this kid sprinted it out together. I thought that the finish was at the exact starting point, but it turned out to be a little farther up. With this woman yelling behind me for her kid to go, I pushed as hard as I possibly could. I forgot to eat breakfast this morning and I think it was for the better because I have never felt more like I was going to throw up without actually throwing up. When I saw that the finish line was further up than I anticipated I knew I couldn't push it anymore. My body just wouldn't do it that far. So I finished about 10 seconds behind this guy. Which, if you consider that I just had a baby and am probably at least ten years older than him, is pretty darn good.

As I was coming around one of the last bends in the course, I saw Carver standing there with Emma and Aunt Tish. As I crossed the finish line I heard people cheering me on and calling my name. I looked up and I saw my husband. What a sweetie. He had left for work that morning and wasn't planning to come. But it meant a lot to me and I had a feeling that he would try to be there if he could. I'm so glad he was there at the end. It just made everything perfect.

I ended up placing 14th out of 33 people. So while I thought I was in the back of the pack, I was just at the tail end of the faster group. And I placed first in my women's age group. For all I know I could have been the only woman in my age group! But just to be recognized and do a decent job for the little training I've had since Emma's been born made it all worth it. I felt so great today. I felt strong, I felt recognized, I felt good about myself. As a mother who stays at home, some days it's difficult to feel any of those things. Today I felt it all and it was amazing!