Monday, May 10, 2010

Mother's Day 5K

This was such a fun race. I have to say that I truly enjoyed participating in it. I was super nervous the night before, and right before the race. The unknown is always a scary thing, isn't it? There was also the coffee dilemma. Do I drink it for energy and risk having to....you know..... or not? I had some. It was fine. Phew!

Some of my other friends signed up as well, but I accidentally ran into Kelly in the parking lot, so we started out together. We may or may not have snickered at a cheesy middle aged lady doing warm up aerobics to iTunes in the starting line. Kelly, my amazing single-mom friend, deserves some major shoutouts. She trained for the 5k on her lunch break every day because that was the only time she had to exercise. Is that amazing or what?

Devin was really sweet. He dragged the girls out of bed at the crack of dawn to come and watch me run. It was really fun to see him at different times during the race, and it helped encourage me to keep going.

Finished the race in 32:39, 10:31 minute mile. I was very pleased with these results. In all my practicing, the fastest I was ever able to go was 11 minutes per mile. My ultimate goal was to finish the darn thing without stopping, and I was able to do that. It was truly a great feeling. We got really cute little shirts and I wore mine proudly to church, like a big dork. My ultimate plan was to stop at Starbucks immediately after and get a dark cherry mocha, but I opted for one at Panera instead. Blagh. Not the same.

Thanks for all your encouragement! Before I even started running I thought "oh 3 miles. That's easy!" Then I started and that thinking changed to "there's no way I'll ever be able to do that" considering I could only go for 1 minute without getting tired and having to stop. Running for 30-40 minutes just seemed impossible.

I guess with my grant writing endeavor and this 5k, 2010 was the year for taking on some new challenges. For someone who only likes to do things that she knows she can do really, really well, this was a big deal. Totally worth it.
























































This last one has nothing to do with running; it's just Addison being so cute. I guess Roxie and Huck needed to be cozier. Roxy even has a beanie baby.

9 comments:

Keri said...

I am so proud of you Marie! I would rather die than run, so it's inspiring to see you take on that challenge and accomplish it!

H.E.A. said...

GO MARIE!!!

Em said...

Congratulations, Marie! I'm really impressed! I've never been able to run. EVER. So I think you're a super star!!

Rachel said...

Yay Marie!!!! You're awesome! Running can be SO hard! I'm really proud of you for taking on a new challenge :) I'm sure you felt fantastic when you finished.

Snorts & Giggles said...

Way-to-go, Marie! Awesome.

roz said...

COngratulations to you!!!! This is just the beginning! It is so hard to just get started...who knows...you may be a road runner from now on! And what a great example for the rest of your family (including me---but knees prevent my running anymore). Love you and am so proud of you!

Brenda Blake said...

I'm very proud of your results, Marie! You inspire me!

Michele said...

just looked at the fox shower pictures. you looked SO pretty in the group shot. love the top you had on, too.

Jen said...

Way to go! I've been thinking about doing a 5K for years, but always chicken out.

Thanks for your compliments on my pictures. I appreciate it!