My First 5K

Some of you may think me crazy because I planned to run my first 5K on my Birthday this year. When I moved here to New England I started running. It was a lot of work to get my knees use to the idea and I slowly but surely got there. As the time passed and I felt like I was making some great progress I had the brilliant idea that I would find a 5K and run it on my birthday as my gift to myself. I thought what better gift could I give then the satisfaction of such a great accomplishment.

I had finally worked my time down to 35 minutes a few weeks before my run. Then I had friends come in from out of town and life got crazy busy. I ran two days in two weeks before my race. One day was at the start of the two weeks and the second day was two days before my run. Needless to say I was a little worried that I wasn't going to be able to even do it in my 35 minutes. The day of the race I was praying to be able to make it under 40 minutes but as close as possible to 35. But I would be completely happy with anything under 40 minutes. The day of the race got here on October 3, I woke up very early in the morning to the sound of rain. I didn't have to get up yet because it was like 2am so I went back to sleep. I must have been excited because I woke up before my alarm went off. I got up got dressed ate breakfast and got ready to walk out the door. I had about an hour drive ahead of me and the rain was pouring down.

I don't mind running in the rain if it isn't pouring. The part I dislike the most is having wet feet. But I have these nifty socks that don't ever make my feet feel wet. If I step in a puddle I can feel it at first but after a few minutes it doesn't really feel wet anymore. I kept on praying that the rain would let up in time for the race because I thought if it is raining and the wind blowing it is going to be cold and it might make it harder for me to make my time. I got to Foxboro, MA about an hour early so I could register and scope out where I would be running.

Me in the rain before the race started Look at that big grin!

My friends Barbara, Jim, and Jake came to support me in the race and cheer me on and take pictures of me. Thanks so much for coming and for your support and encouragement.

Me and Barbara Peterson

The rain let up just a few minutes before the race started. It was still raining some but not as much of a down pour. I am so grateful for answered prayers. I started out in the massive group of people there sure was a lot of adrenaline as I started and wanting to run as fast as I could. After a few steps and keeping up with the other runners I realized if I kept this up I would be dead before my first mile. So I decided to find a comfortable pace. Then I dropped back from the group pretty quickly. There was comfort knowing there were still people behind me through out the entire race and that I wasn't last.

Where is Martha (Waldo) can you find me?

We were running on a bank complex that had a pretty big area and so we were to loop it twice which would be our 3.1 miles. As I was coming up close where I would make my first loop it was up hill. The Petersons were there cheering me on and other racers as they were passing because they already made the loop were cheering me on telling me I am half way. About half way is when I had to start talking to myself (in my head) and telling myself I know I can do it, I know I can do it, keep going your doing great, You are half way there. The talking really started to get intense when I was making my way up the hill for the second time. I had to say a lot of encouraging and motivating words to myself to keep my legs moving.

This part of the race the rain was coming down pretty good. I think this is one of the points I was getting really tired. I look tired anyways!

Here I come

I made it up the hill and around the barrel and I was heading down the hill and then I picked up my second wind and dashed for the finish line. I dashed so quickly that Brother Peterson told me he almost missed taking my picture because he saw me coming then I was there.

and There I go, that Lady didn't know what passed her with that gust of wind

He tried to get the picture of me coming with my time as I passed

the finish line but I snuck up on him.

It was amazing the burst of energy I had in the final moments of the race. I have always felt pretty tired and dead by the end of my runs and it was very invigorating to find this extra energy. I felt so free and I didn't even feel my legs being tired any longer. It was amazing. I cross the finish line and I was ecstatic with excitement because I finished in 32 minutes and 28 seconds. I was right this was the best birthday gift I could have given myself. It was an amazing feeling and makes me excited for the next race I do. The great thing for me is that I am not really racing against other people's time I just want to race against my time and with each race I run I want to have a better time.

Never in a million years would I have imagined myself running a race because I choose to. I remember in PE in high school that I dreaded the mile run because I knew I couldn't run and I hated to run. Life is interesting how things that you hate at one point in time of your life change to be something that you really enjoy. Even though something seems really hard to do and we don't think we can do it, when we put our minds to it and we call on help from Heavenly Father he can help me accomplish anything good and find enjoyment through it.

When I first moved to New England running was my escape from life. My move here was a really hard one and getting out in nature and running a few times a week really did me good from going crazy and falling into a deep depression. I am really glad that Heavenly Father helped me come up with the crazy idea to start running and giving me the motivation I needed to get out there every day. We will see how the winter goes with running. I really like running outside but I am going to try running in a gym while it is cold. Especially since it will be dark when I leave for work in the mornings and will be dark by the time I get home at night. I guess the best thing to do is run indoors in the light. It doesn't matter where I am running as long as I am running. If anyone wants to start running give me a call I can give you all kinds of good advice and give you encouragement. If I can do it anyone can do it. Good luck and try new things! It may amaze you in what you find enjoyment in doing!!!