{YMCA Freaky 5k}

Two months ago I started the journey to run my very first 5k. All of my training over the last two months culminated in today's run. Let me tell you ALL about it, because trust me, you want to know, hehe! (And even if you didn't want to know, you will...)

Despite thinking I wasn't going to get any good sleep last night before today's run, I slept like a baby, which was good. I was nice and rested, got up at a decent time and got ready.
Jay, Ayden, and I all bundled up and headed out to pick up my mom who was going to join us. I drove, which was probably a bad idea. I wasn't nervous until we started to get close to the race location and at that point I didn't really want to be in the driver's seat. But, we got there a bit early and found a good parking spot.

The weather was a balmy 28 degrees and I wanted nothing more than to stay in the nice warm car, but we got out and I went to pick up my registration packet. I got a cute long sleeve shirt that I let Ayden wear, my shirt number, a timing chip for my shoe. After this, we had a good half hour to wait around before the beginning of the race. And let me tell you, it was COLD! We had all of our winter gear and and were still freezing. My brave family to deal with the cold to watch me run. LOVE them!

As everyone started to line up for the beginning of the race I took my winter coat off and got ready. With all of the people around I could feel my excitement rising. I knew this was going to be a good run!

And then we were off! I think I started relatively close to the middle of the running pack. Shortly after we started I got a little bit worried because it seemed like people were passing me left and right and I didn't want to be the last of the runners. The first part of the path was downhill (as everyone was passing me) and then shortly after that we had to head back uphill and that is when I started to pass more and more people.The run itself went well. I felt good throughout most of it and felt that I was keeping a good pace. I didn't bring my phone with me, so I didn't know how fast I was running. I was just hoping to finish before 35 minutes.

When I saw the finish line in site I really kicked it into high gear and I crossed the finish line just around 30 minutes. I will get my official chipped time in a few days, and I'm thinking it is actually under 30 minutes because I didn't cross the start line right as the timer started, it was a few seconds later. I am excited to see what it is though. Either way, this was by far my fastest 5k run to date!273 out of 764 registered runners!

No bad… not bad at all! My official time according to the chip on my shoe was 29 minutes 45 seconds and I had an average pace time of 9 minutes 35 seconds per mile! Amazing because this week during my runs at home I had been averaging just over 10 minutes per mile. I couldn’t have been more proud of myself!

Throughout the run I stayed warm enough, which was good. It was exciting to see my family at the finish line and I have to thank my honey for the pictures of me. Now I cannot wait for the Color Run 5K in January (even if it is in the dead of winter) and I think I need to officially register for the half in April.

I had a goal to run a 5k by the end of the summer and I gave up on the C25K program not even two weeks into it the first time. It was definitely a bummer because I didn't think I would ever be able to run longer than 30 seconds. But somewhere deep down I knew I had it in me!

CIAO! LOVE ME!