First 5K

Okay...First race report ever. First off, I did it and beat my goal by almost 4 minutes! I was so excited to be there, even tho I couldn't sleep well last night, mainly because I couldn't find a pair of shorts that fit. But, sometime around 3 a.m. my drawer coughed up a pair that wouldn't fall down, and wasn't too small. Anywayssss....Sarah picked me up on time, we drank a smoothie on the way, and both felt pretty similar....this was about having fun and doing the best we could. Never mind that this was the World Championship for the Xterra Off Road 21 K. We had our race to run.

We saw the Real Racers off, then the 10K'ers. Next was our turn. Everything started out great – I was right in the middle of the pack, running along. Right around the first bend appeared a killer hill...I didn't know

at the time that it went up for about the first mile, but I did know that I couldn't run up it. What I also didn't know was that I could walk up it at a fairly good pace without stopping, even when taking pictures. So, at the first aid station (1.7 mile), I was way behind the pack, but had quite a few people behind me. That was quite a relief. After that it was a piece of cake. I watched myself on the extreme downhills and over the cattle gates,but ran quite a bit, even passing a bunch of people. At times I actually felt like I was getting in the groove of running.

In the midst of it all, I took pics of the mountains and various movie settings. And, in the end, I came in 4th in my age division. My friend came in 2nd. And I wasn't even close to last over all. Yay! Now I'm thinking of doing a mini tri. Talked to an 80 year old who had good information about them. Why not?

Back To My Program

I am so over my leg injury..so so so over it. I rested all last weekend. This weekend I devoted to some medical procedures I don't want to gross you out with. Suffice it to say the prep was way worse than the actual procedures.

Okay, back to Back To My Program. Despite not being able to exercise much for the past three or four weeks, other than dancing to Santana, I didn't gain any weight. That's good. And, here are the much better good things. I'm back to Dallas' Happy Hour, lifting more weight than I was before.

AND! Here's the really really cool Good! I'm back on the tread...at the same level I was at before I hurt myself. No problem. Whatsoever. I was able to jog 5 and 3 - TWICE, with half that much walking in between. With no trouble heart rate or breathing. I love it! And I did it two days so far. Once more and I'll move to the next week, which is jog 5, walk 3, jog 5, walk 3, jog 5 (first day), and I don't think that will be much of a problem, then jog 8, walk 5, jog 8 (day 2), then jog 20 (day 3) ??????!!!!! I'm sure everyone will understand if this week takes me 2-4 weeks to get through. But, I will get through it.

So, to celebrate the reality that I just might be able to make it to a 5K in the not too distant future, I went out and bought myself some REAL running shoes today. Mizuno Wave Inspires. Here's a pic I tried out a bunch of shoes, jogging around the store, and decided on these. It was tied between them and a pair of Saucony's. These were $20 bucks cheaper and felt as good. I am so so happy! I was so happy that I also bought a new (first ever) running shirt too. I was trying to find a pic of my shirt and look what I found! A link to all kinds of 5K races here in Hawaii!

So, maybe I AM turning into a runner. Who would have thought that was even a remote possibility????? Thank you to all my blogger buddies who actually have turned into runners..and more...for your amazing inspirational examples. I'm running as fast as I can in your footsteps. Especially to Shosh who today completed her second half marathon in a week, Bekkles who is about ready for her tri, despite having just moved cross country, is working incredibly long demanding hours, and being an awesome wife and mother to the cutest little Lucy girl ever, Cyndi, whose dust I'm eating, and is not only ready to run her first 5K, but is thinking of a half marathon herself while she works full time, is also an awesome wife and mom to three amazing kids, and of course, to my dear dear friend Michelle, who got me started on this path by sharing her journey with me and others, turning me onto the blogosphere, and who just sent me two books; The Slow Fat Triathlete, and Your First Triathlon. You think maybe she wants to live vicariously through me during her babe's first year?

Thank you, all you wonderful inspiring women. I'll try to live up to your examples. Really. And no standing on chairs again. I promise.