I ran and I am still here to tell you about it!

I woke up Saturday morning to a beautiful sunny morning. It was pretty cool outside, but great for running. My neighbor and one of my partner's in crime, Marla, picked me up at 7am. We headed off to get our ringleader Raquel (the other partner in crime), and find our way down to the starting line.

Wow, all the people amazed me. I heard that there was thousands of people, but I guess I never realized how crazy it was. We had to line up with all the 5K runners. Then you had to line up under how fast your pace is (how fast you run a mile). OK, no one ever told me that I had to know my pace time. We ended up lining up under a 12 minute pace (the last one).

The race started, mass people started running, and I was running with them. I was still thinking at that moment how I could possibly be running in a 5K race. I wondered if I would be able to make the whole race. My goal was to run it in under 45min.

I turned on my music (Thanks honey for my early Mother's Day gift...ipod shuffle) and started my pace. I was feeling pretty good, then I hit my first of three hills. my lungs started to burn and my next song started....As The Deer (panteth for the water). I hit fast forward, I did not need to be reminded that I was panting. I made it to the two mile marker and stared to question whether or not I was going to be able to run the whole race. Up to this point I had not yet run a straight 3 miles. I kept going determined to keep running. Then the last of the three hills came and I was gasping for air. I started to walk very quickly to get up the hill and to catch my breath. I walked about 30 sec and then started running again.

As I (and all the other runners) started down the hill people started cheering. I started looking down the side streets and seeing runners crossing the finish line, I was almost there. We rounded a corner and people started clapping and yelling for us, encouraging us to keep on, not to give up (which I was just about ready too). Then the huge white sign that hung over the road came into view. I was almost there and from some where deep in my shoes, I started to pick up speed. I turned off my music as people where all yelling, and I needed that more at that point than my music. I crossed the finish line and felt like I could just about fall over. There were some very nice, but firm ladies telling me that I had to keep moving, not to stop, I would feel better if I kept moving. You'd think that I just ran the 25K!

I kept close to the finish line waiting for my partners in crime to cross the finish line and they did soon after. What a feeling of accomplishment. For someone who never thought that they could run, I just ran 3.1 miles in 34min 1.75sec, beating my goal by more than 10 min!

So, you are probably wondering how I got all of these pictures. Marla's husband Steve had my camera and he took all kinds of pictures for me. He even took a ladder to stand on, so he could get a better vantage point! It really has been fun going through all the pictures to discover what he took. Thanks Steve!

The rest of the day I just kind of walked around aimlessly. I just didn't have any motivation to do much of anything. But, I was happy and proud of myself for doing something that just a few short weeks ago I thought was impossible. I CAN do all things through Christ who strengthens me!

The next on our list is the Reed's Lake run the end of June. Then the Byron Center race in July, then the Race for the Cure in Sept. God might make a runner out of me yet!

Blessings!