"See me smile as I hit the ground..." (line taken from Allison Crowe's "Running")
So, Saturday I went to my 2nd (though informal and unorganized - but what do you expect from a not for profit organization) 5K. It wasn't even a real 5K either.. more like 2.5 miles. The only thing that was the same was the bridge that I walked (twice) this time like I did last time on New Year's Day. However, that being said, there were about six hills.. going up and down the bridge (.6 mile long each way) counts as four because when you get at the top it levels out for a bit and then goes down hill.. going up and down Broadway counts as two and we're talking steep and long hills. One of the ladies who was cheering me on at the one on NYD always checked back to make sure I was ok, even asking if I wanted to stop at one time, I was like no way! I was a little out of breath BUT I DID NOT STOP ON THEM AT ALL!! Yippie! I only had to stop when the traffic controllers made us stop at intersections for traffic, which I didn't like because it was messing up my momentum. Definitely not an organized route in my opinion. We didn't have timing chips or numbers, but I had my heart monitor that has a stop watch on it and I clocked myself at 45 mins for the whole trip. That's incredible for me! I remember reaching 2 miles at my first 5K on New Year's Day took me 53 mins and this time, at 45 mins, I was over 2 miles. WOW! When we were back on the bridge again and it had began going down hill, for some reason, I felt so awesome, I began running down the hill (leaving my encourager er coach? walking/talking with someone else). And oh my god, I felt so incredibly elated and had this smile from ear to ear as I ran (and I rarely even jog lol). It was so AWESOME!!! Like I had a runner's high. I saw my walking friends at the bottom and it just made me that much more encouraged to run to them and it was great that I wasn't dead last like I was on New Year's Day.
I'm soooo ready for another one (next month). Bring it on baby. I'm hooked.
Oh and if you haven't donated, please sponsor my walk by donating to the March for Babies 5k on April 20, 2008. If I have at least 10 more people to donate 10 dollars, I will pass my personal goal of 100 dollars (our team has raised so far $314). And A BIG HUGE THANKS TO THOSE WHO HAVE ALREADY DONATED - You're fantabulous!
