I did it! I survived our insane weekend of two family Thanksgivings, a birthday party, and that's right, the 5K!! I'm not gonna lie, I had my doubts. Saturday morning was crazy busy and by the time we arrived at my Dad's, I was ready for a nap. Then we ate (moderately) and watched some Aggie football, still tired. Dropped the boys off at the birthday party, yawning nonstop. Waiting around for the race to start, ready to lay down in th parking lot and snooze. I was feeling nervous the first part of the day thinking about the race. But the thing about the 5K being so late was that by the time it started, any nervousness I had had disappeared and turned into 'let's just do this thing already!!'! So when 5:40 rolled around I was ready to go. I started strong, and ended strong. I did some walking, but I ran more than I walked, and I was really surprised at myself. As I said before, I didn't set a "goal time" to finish by. I didn't want to put that kind of pressure on myself this first go round. And...I finished in 37 minutes! That might sound crazy long to some of you, but I am pretty proud of that tme. And that includes some of the lingering that I did once I got into Santa's Wonderland and became mesmerized by the lights. :)
The entrance to the last 1.2 miles of the race!
Getting closer to Santa's Wonderland; almost done with mile 2!
When I did the Armadillo Dash in March of 2011, my time was around 33 minutes. And that was at a point when I had been training HARD for two months and weighed about 135 lbs. So, considering my weight now, considering that I hadn't been training as hard as I should have been, I think that 37 was a damn good time. There were a couple of times when the cold got to me and my chest was hurting. A couple of times when my legs wanted to give out. Many times when I was about to stop and kick a little kid who kept getting in front of me and then stopping to tie her shoe. But I kept telling myself: Just. Keep. Going. It would have been really easy to just walk the rest of the way, or simply give up. But I had to Just. Keep. Going. It would have been really easy to stop, grab some cookies and hot chocolate, and sit on Santa's lap instead of finishing the race. But that's not me (although that probably would have made for a more interesting story...) and I had to Just. Keep. Going. I wasn't about to let myself down, or let any of you guys down! Christopher was there and I certainly didn't want to let him down. Nor did I want to disappoint these two awesome ladies who read the blog and who also did the race! Crossing that finish line was one of the best feelings I've had in a long time. I was overwhelmed, proud, encouraged, and tired as hell.
After it was over I was all jacked up and ready to sign up for another 5K! But then I came back to reality and made myself calm the eff down. I believe the Armadillo Dash will be in March again in 2013, so that will probably be my next 5K. I feel good about the progress I am making, and am looking forward to even greater results in the near future!
I don't care that it's not even Thanksgiving yet...I love Christmas lights!
Thanks to all of you who have been following me on my journey to a better and healthier me. I appreciate the support and encouragement you all give me more than you will ever know! Keep holding me accountable ladies (and possibly gentlemen)!
P.S. Look at this super fun Christmas cup that my Secret Pal gave me! It's got a snowglobe inside of it yall, a freakin' snowglobe!! Well done Secret Pal, well done!
Merry Holidays to you!
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