About that 5k I keep talking about!!

My coach and me!

So, waaayyyyy back in May I decided that I wanted to run a 5k.  I was feeling pretty low on self-confidence (which I mentioned before) and knew that I had to do something that I didn't think I could do... and for some reason, during a psychotic break, I had this really great idea to run a 5k.  I cannot stress enough how much of a runner I am not.  I have never enjoyed it and have always thought that Hotsauce was ca-razy to have gone out for Cross Country and did it for fun!  Yay, fun like jabbing forks in your eyeballs fun.

On my first run I ran 1.2 miles and did so in at a world record pace of 13 minutes.  Yes, 13 minutes.  I know, be jealous.  I also had to walk 3 times.  Seriously, I amaze myself.

Thinking about it now, I'm amazed that I kept up with it!  But, I started telling people that I was going to run a 5k and the thing about telling people is that they hold you accountable.  At some point I decided to tell Hotsauce my plan and that was a big mistake!  Big mistake in that he decided he was going to do it too... which meant I had no chance of backing out.  Big mistake #2 was telling my brother, Michael that I was planning on doing and asking him if he wanted to run it with us!  He said yes and now I was locked in for better or worse...pain or endurance...big fat wimp or big fat wimp.

Now remember I started training way back in May and didn't actually run in a race until September 8th.  I needed plenty of time to train... aka make absolute sure that I wasn't going to make a complete idiot out of myself.

In order to motivate myself I made some goals.  They were by no means Olympic sized goals, but just the same I knew that I needed something to shoot for or I wouldn't know how to gauge my success. So here were my three initial goals:
1. Finish.  Seriously, this was a big one for me.
2. Finish without walking. 
3. If at all possible finish under 30 minutes, but time didn't matter so much as finishing!

During my pre-race training I once ran 4 miles without stopping.  It was really challenging for me, but I accomplished it with the help of some crazy lady Connie Pauling, who drove by and yelled at us cheered us on which really lit a fire under me to finish strong.  Another time Hotsauce had me running intervals at the track and yet another time we ran hills.  It was pretty intense for this old gal.

I also spent time online looking for tips to run a faster 5k, or what to do before your 5k race and what not to do and so on and so on... because again I was afraid of making a complete idiot out of myself and since the I was doing this to boost my self-esteem I didn't want to be the idiot... at least not this time.  I found all sorts of valuable tips that Hotsauce and Michael really felt were valuable and agreed they must be true since I read them online...sarcasm should be heavily noted.
1. Don't run the two days before the race, you want to be rested.
2. Make sure you get great sleep two nights before the race.  The night before the race you're likely to be a nervous wreck and might not get good sleep.
3. Carb overload the night before a race.
4. Eat something light a few hours before the race, for instance an apple and a cheese stick.
5. Don't experiment with new clothing/shoes the day of the race.  Make sure you're comfortable and wear shoes that are worn in. 
6. Don't wear the free shirt to run it ... only newbies do this.  I guess if you're a newbie you still shouldn't do this!

Well after sharing my expertise with them I got hammered pretty hard. ;) I guess apples release a lot of acid that you don't want stored up in your legs, so skip the apple.  Carb overloads aren't proven and may even slow you down... so skip this.  And if you're like me you'll be a nervous wreck 2 days before the race so you won't get any sleep that night. The night before the race I was so sick to my stomach that there was no chance of sleeping well again.  So skip the sleep, you don't need it anyway.  Who needs to be refreshed to run?? ;)

I should mention that a few days before the run I saw our friend, Joe, at the grocery store and he helped me modify my goals so that goal #1 (Finish) was changed to: Finish without having an ambulance called.  And right before the race Michael helped me modify it a bit more to: Finish the race without having an ambulance called and without crying.

The morning of the run it was 50 balmy degrees out.  I had never ran in temps cooler than around 75 degrees so I was in my element... or so stinking cold that I couldn't wait to run just to warm up a little bit!!!  I have to tell you that when the gun went off that I was in shock at the number of people that took off sprinting.  I mean I expected some people to do that, but almost everyone did!  I looked at Ben and Michael and said, "Are they serious?" I had also read online that some people will start too fast because once the gun goes off that they will take off and wear out early.  I assumed some of these people were going to pay for their sprinting later on... turns out I was wrong we never passed a single person!  Which was really annoying because there was this old man ahead of us that would sprint for awhile and then walk and then sprint and then walk and then sprint and then walk... and every time he would start walking I would think that we would catch him and pass him. We never did.

In the end I accomplished all of my goals for the day.  I finished without an ambulance or tears.  I finished without walking and under 30 minutes.  Before the race I had never ran a 5k under 30 minutes and so that was very exciting to me.  I also finished before Ben and Michael... but not because I was faster then them... just because I was being silly at the end for the sake of the loud cheering Turkey Bottoms and their cousins! 

Nothing but smiles since I can see the finish line!!!

My running security guards!

*Race Notes*     At the one mile mark I asked Ben what our time was, since I had forgotten to wear my watch.  He told me the time, which was much faster then we normally run our first mile.  I asked him if we were on pace and he said, "Yes. A little fast, but we're on our pace."  Somewhere around the 2.5 mile mark I noticed that Ben was about a step ahead of me and Michael was drifting back a step and since I was in the middle I figured Michael was either tired or trying to draft off of us.  ;) Turns out they both knew that we were running quite a bit faster than my normal pace.  Ben was running faster to try to motivate me to keep going and Michael was backing off so that if I needed to slow down I would have "an out"... I can't tell you how much I appreciate both of them and their desire to support me in any way that I needed it! 

 

 

I know this is blurry, but it's my proof that I beat both of them!;)