A 5K

Last month I got the city bill in the mail. It always comes with a monthly newsletter. I usually skip over all the boring stuff like the mayor's memo or the emergency preparedness stuff:) and skip to the next months events...in case there is something fun to do. I was getting ready to throw it away when at the very bottom of the last page I saw an advertisement for a 5K. I checked the date, calculated the training time, and texted Derek.

Hey...wanna run a 5K with me?
When is it?
June 4th
That's only 4 weeks away!
Yep

He didn't really give me an answer...but I kinda sorta made up his mind for him. Cuz I kinda sorta preregistered when he was at work and before he really told me yes or no:)

The week of the race, actually two days before the race, I woke up with body aches and a dizzy head. I spent the day on the couch, in pain, fuming with little existing energy, that I had been training for the last 4 weeks for a race I might not even be able to run because I was sick. Derek made me some chicken noodle soup...and it must have had magic powers because after I ate it I started to feel better. By morning it was gone completely. Not sure what that was about. No matter.

We got a sitter for the kiddos and just the two of us headed over to the park. Can you believe that I still get nervous before races? I remember now why I hated high school track SO MUCH! And why I didn't even go out my senior year. And how I didn't run from my last day of senior year volleyball until Peyson was more than a year old(more than 5 years time).

With jitters in my tummy we started the race...the first mile was all up hill. Long, never ending hill after hill. Before I even made it to the first turn I thought I might die. Turns out you can't just up and run a race as if you were still in that 15 year old body, ten years and two kids later. I sure tried though. After mile one I heard hard, loud footsteps behind me and it felt like whoever it was was right on my tail. I kept checking to see where she was at...I still had some room. One girl caught me on the last hill but I couldn't stay with her. No way! I heard somebody yell out a time on that same hill and knew I couldn't reach my goal time, but those footsteps man...I was not about to let them pass me. Soooooo......I pushed...and pushed some more...and then some more. I might hate the jittery tummy but that competitive psycho in my head never goes away. Even if my pelvis feels like it might bust open. Nope...those muscles haven't recovered yet.

And so, I crossed the finish line, my head felt like it might explode, one second ahead of loud feet, at 28:07. I really wanted to do better...I couldn't figure out why my body has been so beat up during this training...but as Derek continually has to remind me...I've never had two kids before. So I guess it's ok. I'll get over it. But it will be awhile before I try it again. In fact, I didn't even run today. I'm on strike against running for now. I'll stick to walking until I recover from the result of my competitive nature:) Thanks Dad!

And I'm pretty sure Derek will never agree to another race...ever...not that he really agreed to this one:) But I'm glad he tagged along! Although he told me I turn into a whole different person when I compete...unrecognizable...I have no idea what he is talking about;)