Last Saturday, I ran a 5k with two of my friends. I put forth effort to train a couple months beforehand. I haven't really run since before kids. I mostly walk or do aerobics at the gym. Before I was married, I ran a 5k with my roommate. That was about 5 or 6 years ago. I can't remember what my time was for it, but I'm pretty sure it was over 40 minutes, and I know I walked part of it. I was also about 25 pounds heavier at that time. So this is a story of progress.
Here we are before the race. Carol Rebeck, me, and Lisa Miller. These are two of my favorite people here in New York. Matt and I missed the exit on our way there, so the roads closed by the time we got there, and he had to drop me off at a corner to let me walk into the start line. It was a lonely walk, not really knowing where I was going. Talk about stress building up before the race. Luckily, we still had time to warm up, meet up with our families, pump ourselves up, and go to the bathroom a gazillion times. The nerves.
These are the shoes that made me fly. Just kidding. The orange tag thingy was some sort of magnetic device that clocked my start time and finish time officially. I thought that was pretty neat.
My cheerleaders. I wish I'd taken a picture of my coach- Matt. He did a great job of motivating me during "training" and giving me last minute tips on racing. He even ran the first hundred or so yards with me, pushing the girls in our stroller, yelling out words of encouragement. Slightly embarrassing, but mostly made me feel good and made me fly faster.
The Starting Line. We're right in the middle of the crowds of people. A difficult way to begin. 350 people or more raced with us. When the horn blared, I felt stuck behind the people in front of me. I had to break free, so I saw an opening to my left and bolted toward space out front. The beginning was the only time I really passed people. After that I just kept a steady pace, speeding up just a little once in awhile.
Matt met me at 1/4 of a mile left to run. He was cheering me on, telling me to pick up the pace and get ready to sprint at the end. I told him I had to wait a little longer cause I felt sick. I thought I was going to puke and felt a little light headed. So I reserved my energy a bit longer. Then the track was in sight. It's funny how my body took over and sped up. It felt good to finish strong. I straight-pathed it to the water table and kept walking. Hoping not to hurl. I think my joy calmed my tummy. But I was anxious to see my friends. While running, I saw a woman holding the hand of a younger boy, and running along together. I also saw two men over 90 cross the finish line in under 50 minutes. A man with a prosthetic leg (sp?) came in third. I found myself cheering for strangers, feeling connected to people running beside me and past me. I ran it in 31:26. Much better than I expected to do. Much better than I had done 5 years previously. So I was happy. I must admit though, I was anxious to see my friends Carol and Lisa finish too. I honestly didn't feel completely happy until we had all finished. It was like my victory wasn't complete until they had crossed the finish too. It was really cool and I was so proud of all of us. We all did much better than we thought we would. So yay for progress! I'm actually growing and stretching myself and seeing positive results and sharing it with people I love. Happy day.
