It's race day!! I woke upat 6:30, after about 9 hours of sleep, it felt great! I did some stretching, made some breakfast, got ready to go and packed up the car. I was feeling so calm yet excited about the day.
The timing of everything went perfectly. Meeting up with Sharon and Kathy(a friend that came to support us, but not run), then meeting up with Sharon's brother. We had time for a walk, took some pictures and got lined up for the race. I couldn't believe the way I was feeling!
I was thinking back to when I started the C25K program. I remember thinking "oh no, I have to run for an entire minute!" Then I did the entire minute of running and it was crazy, I was so out of breath, then I did the walking for 90 seconds, and the whole time I was trying to regain my breathing, and kept thinking.."okay, you can do this, you can run for another minute." Then, I did it, and kept repeating rotation that for 20 minutes. It was so difficult and hard to imagine ever running for 30 minutes or a 5K when I started, and now, today, I was going to run my first official 5K!
We did a countdown and we were off! My iPod started with the Brady Bunch singing "Keep On". STOP LAUGHING..it's a song that makes sure I pace myself when I start out...and I LOVE it!!! :) Well, people too off really fast and they were flying past me! I had the urge to go faster, but knew I had to just keep at my pace. I moved as far right as I could and let people just go by me. The race started out flat, but just a little into the race there was a very steep hill. Other runners were still flying past me, but I got up to the top of the hill and really had to regain my breathing. I didn't feel like stopping at all, but knew I needed to get my breathing back, so I slowed a little and got my breathing back to normal. During this time, I saw a lot of people that had run past me, and they were now walking, so it sort of gave me a bit of reassurance that I was on track. It was a gradual incline the first 1.6 miles, and I felt good! The songs that I picked really came at the right time too! We then turned around and went back the same route, this time more downhill, so that felt good! I knew that I was starting to feel tired, but had no desire to quit. I only saw one mile marker and knew that the turn around was 1.6, but I really had no idea how much more we had to go. My songs were timed so perfectly, I got to this one song, and knew that I had to be at about 2.6 miles, so I was feeling so excited that I was getting close. I looked a bit ahead and saw a sign that pointed to the aquarium and knew I was even closer than I thought!!! I got to that steep hill, though now I was going to get to go downhill, so I was pretty happy about that. I got to the bottom of the hill and saw the finish line, I got so excited! I actually decided to pick up my pace until I finished. It was strange though, I kept looking up and was thinking, "umm, why is the finish line still not here?? come one, get there!" LOL Well, I did finally get there, and it felt great!!!
My official time was 41:07. Sharon ran and beat my time, I think she was about 37 minutes, but not totaly sure. I was so proud of her, she had just 7.5 weeks to train, and she ran the entire thing and faster than me. It was a great day, and we both felt so great!
After, they all got some food and I drank a ton of water. I turned around to someone calling my name. It was Joslyn Baca, and she recognized me from facebook. Have I mentioned her yet? In case I haven't, she was on the Jillian cruise, and we never connected before or during the cruise, only afterwards when so many people were "friend-ing" each other from cruise, and I think it was me who said that I was running the 5K, and she lives in Monterey and she was going to be doing the 5K also. So, we were going to try and find each other, and she found me. She is amazing and we have a ton of things in common. She is much younger than me, she just lost about 30 pounds(I think that was the amount that she said), she has been blogging, this was her first 5K, she's a vegetarian..crazy, but waaay cool! I look forward to many more races with her and striving to work hard to reach more goals. She is a great motivator for sure!!
On the way home, I called Allison, and she was so great and supportive on the phone. She reminded me to stretch, so I pulled off the road half way home and stretched. Then, I talked with Sabra, and even more support, it was great to catch up with both of them!! I stopped by to see my mom and step dad, Ed. They got the camera and took a picture of me in my running clothes with my bib and everything. It was nice to see they were proud of what I had done. I showed the pictures and headed home.
TEAM seminar in the evening, and everyone that was so supportive there was a real boost too, it felt really good.
Overall, the support and recognition from everyone feels wonderful, but the sense of accomplishment that I felt, the knowing that I was able to do it. I set the goal, and I accomplished it, even though I didn't feel ready or confident about it!!! I know the motivation has to come from within and that I need be proud of my accomplishments, that's most important for me to continue on my journey to reach my goal. But, I really, really appreciate all of the feedback and support from everyone!!
Learning and growing into a healthier me!
~Cindy Lou
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