I Came, I Saw, I Ran

My big news today is that I successfully completed my first 5K!! I know I ran a few when I was younger, but those don't count-I was young enough that running 3 miles was no big deal. Today was a huge deal for me, the culmination of all the work I've done since I started running on September 29th. A few set-backs tried to stop me: a hurt ankle about 2 months ago, really cold weather starting about a month ago, and then of course that pesky asthma that sent me to the ER two weeks ago. I've only run twice in the past two weeks, and I'm still not feeling completely better, but I was determined to go to this race!

Angela and I arrived with plenty of time, which we spent freezing and mentally preparing. The start of the race was delayed, and while we were originally told the 5K would start 15 minutes after the 10K, it turns out that was not the case. This being a military race, a howitzer was used as the starting gun. So they shot off the howitzer, off the 10K runners went, and we stood around, wondering what the heck was going on, and letting the clock tick away. Eventually we figured out that we should be running too, and took off, passing quite a few people which was very gratifying. Angela and I ran together for a little over a mile, and then she went on ahead.

I'm very pleased to report that I finished in 34:47. My official time was 36:19, but that was because we stood there like the newbies we were, not knowing to start! Angela finished a few minutes ahead of me, close to 30 minutes if I remember correctly. I was #34 to finish in the 5K. Angela's husband was our official race photographer, and I'll try to get a few pictures from him to share. Luckily I don't think he got any of me finishing, I'm sure I looked like I was about to die!