Better than I thought...

I finally did it! I ran my first 5K. And to be entirely honest, I did so much better than I thought I possibly could have. While official times haven't been posted yet, the clock told me that I finished in 34:20. I'm not deluded enough to think that my time was the accomplishment, even though I am very proud of myself and my goal was to finish in under 40 minutes. The accomplishment to me is that I ran the ENTIRE time. Not in a million years did I think I would be able to run the entire time.

Forgive the blurry pictures, I forgot my camera and all the pictures were taken by my husband's cell phone.

In the beginning, after I got past the anxiety and nervousness and actually started running (jogging slowly), my muscles were tight and my legs felt heavy. But I knew that I just had to get past that first mile or so and my legs would warm up and my stride would lengthen. So I continued, trudging along slowly, near the back of the pack. But knowing from everything I've read that it's better to pace yourself in the beginning than it is to have people passing you the entire race, I ignored the urge to run faster and pass people.  And sure enough, come the middle of the hill,  I passed many a person walking, completely out of breath.

The beginning:

My thought process...I can't do this, what did I get myself into, why did I think that I could run a 5K, I've only ran 3 miles on the treadmill and I stopped to walk, there is a huge hill, I can't run up that hill, maybe I should have worn a different shirt, all these runners look more experienced then me, what if I'm dead last?

The end:

My thought process...I did it. I actually did it. I ran 3.1 miles. Not walked/ran, RAN. Husband!

The first part of the course was entirely uphill. However, the worst of the hill was on a beautiful tree covered street right next to a trail I've run on before, so I knew how much further I had to go.  Then, we looped around, ran back down through the trail itself, and finished back in the Med Center parking lot. The worst of it was the last 1/2 mile, when I considered walking, but I knew that if I ran that far, I can surely run that last 1/2 mile.

I can not even express how proud of myself I am. And I know my husband was pretty proud of me as well.

In other news...to improve my training I decided to by the Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS watch. 

I much prefer running outside, but I find it remarkably frustrating when I have no idea how far I've run. Plus I have a really hard time pacing myself.

So, Balloon Chasers 5K: COMPLETED...

Next (and yes, I've already registered for my next)...Run/Walk For Peace on September 11th. 

Now back to stretching my calf...