The 5K

This is a terrible picture, but I like it anyway.

Me, after some run, with Ryder awkwardly standing between my legs.

You may have already seen it on facebook, or I may have already told you all about it on the phone, but if you think that's going to stop me from blogging every boring detail about my race, then you must not know me very well.


I ran my first ever race today! And, no, I didn't win. But I was happy with how it all turned out.

You may recall that back in June I explained how I was thinking about taking up running. I also admitted this strange desire to Vangie, and she suggested that I run a 5K she'd heard about. She knew exactly how to hook me: it was called "Will Run for Chocolate," and was sponsored by Ghiradelli. The runners got fondue at the finish line. I was interested!

So I began working towards a goal. I needed to be able to run 5K. Which, for those of you who are Americans and couldn't care less about the metric system (and I include myself in that category), is 3.1 miles. So I kept running. I edged up to 1.5 miles. And then 1.9. When school started, Vangie helped by offering to run with me in the mornings. This got my butt out of bed and helped me to keep lengthening my distance. (Vangie also tried to convince me to go for the 15K instead of just doing the 5K, but I turned her down there. For my first race ever, I needed to start with a more attainable goal!) I actually registered for the race in September. (If I would have thought about how much colder December would be, I might not have!)

So Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays (unless it was raining!), we've been jogging. In order to be home before Craig leaves for work, I've had to get up at 5:20am. I am NOT a morning person and this has not been easy. But with Vangie jogging along chatting with me (and me occasionally grunting in reply), it's at least been fun, too. Since Vangie was doing the 15K, we actually got so we were running 3.7 miles together. Yes, this is more than what I needed to do. But I had been warned that the race had hills, so I figured being slightly over-prepared couldn't hurt. And I'm glad I was! Because those hills turned out to be big!

But I'm getting ahead of myself. As we were getting ready to leave for our Thanksgiving in South Carolina, I realized that when we returned, I would only have one week left before my race! So I had to force myself to run on vacation, too! That was super hard, but at least it meant that I didn't feel as guilty for all the eating I did there. In South Carolina, I had my best run yet: 3.8 miles with NO walking breaks. But my route was also incredibly flat and the weather was perfectly mild. So while I felt good about it, I wasn't convinced that this guaranteed a good run on the actual day.

So the big day came. I had carefully laid out all my running clothes, best socks, gloves & hat and iPod shuffle (with a carefully selected 5K mix!) the night before. This turned out to be a good thing, because-- true to form!-- I completely screwed up what time we were leaving! I somehow got it into my head that Vangie was picking me up at 6:30 instead of 5:30! Big oops. (And even more embarrassing since I'd gone to bed worrying about how we would get there in time with such a late start. What a dummy!) But I think I was dressed and out the door within six minutes of Vangie calling me and asking where I was. Points for that, at least?

We headed to the National Harbor. And got stuck in traffic. 20,000 people registered for the races, and that all formed one giant, mess of a traffic jam early on a Saturday morning. This turned out to be a really great time for my body to decide it needed a bathroom right now. I did manage to find a solution. And I won't give any more details. But let's just say that it wasn't having quite the start to the day I'd been hoping for. And it's a good thing I've lived in Africa.

The race started super late, since everyone had the same traffic problems. Fortunately, my friend Delilas had managed to finagle a way to run at the last minute, so she and I got to hang out and freeze together while we waited for it to begin. That was awfully nice-- I would have been bored to tears AND nervous otherwise! Finally they began calling the different corrals to begin and we began edging towards the start line (we had-- rather optimistically-- placed ourselves in the 9-minute mile group). And suddenly, I was crossing the start line and I'd begun! After feeling my toes slowly going numb, it was good just to get moving! And we started with a downhill, which seemed nice (although in hindsight that might have just been cruel).

Delilas waved me on, so I jogged ahead as best I could, trying not to run into anyone or trip over cones. And then it was just me with my music, trying to keep moving! The route went along the harbor, so it was nice seeing the water for a bit, then it wound past some businesses before suddenly climbing what looked like a tremendous hill. I kept climbing and felt slightly smug as I passed a few people walking, only to realize that they all passed me a minute or two later (such is life, huh?). The hardest part of the whole race was when there was another downhill, and I couldn't see where it led to. I began hoping that at the bottom of that hill would be the finish line and was getting pretty excited. So when I realized that there was another hill to climb before the finish, I began to think about taking a walking break. But I knew I would hate myself if I gave in, so I just kept plodding along.

And eventually, I made it! 3.1 miles, two substantial hills, and I kept jogging throughout! Yay me! When I crossed the clock said 36 minutes, but when you factor in the delayed start time, a few of those minutes should get shaved off. I'm hoping. But my only goal was just to keep jogging, and I definitely accomplished that, so I am completely happy.

Anyway, I finished, called Craig to let him know (he'd wanted to come, but we finally decided it wasn't worth it to drag the kids out of bed so early in such cold weather-- I think that was the right choice!). I grabbed some water and then sat and waited for Delilas to finish, too. And then we enjoyed our chocolate fondue and hot cocoa, before finding a spot where we could cheer Vangie on as well.

Despite the rather rough start, it was a good day and I have been enjoying a great sense of accomplishment.

The surprising thing, though, was my thought as soon as I was done. I'm glad I did that, I thought, but it was a lot of work for just a half hour of running. Next time, I should do a longer race...

What have I become?