Running, running, running....my behind off

A couple of weekends ago I ran my FIRST ever race!  I ran a 5k with a few friends.  I have to say if you would have told me a couple of years ago that I would like running, and would be able to run three miles I would have told you to lay off the wacky weed!  Even in high school I never "liked" to run, or do much of any exercise.  When I lost weight after I had Kate, I took up walking and then discovered that I liked to run too!!!  There is just something about being able to push your body to do something you didn't think was possible.  And as cliche as it is, and funny to say, I love feeling the wind in my hair!!!  Ha ha!!   

After I had Eli I knew the pounds needed to come off so I started Weight Watchers again and I also started exercising.  At first I was only able to run a mile, which I was really surprised that I could do after not exercising for almost a whole year.  Then I found out about a race that one of the boy scouts in our ward was organizing to earn money for a statue for his Eagle Project.  I set the race as a goal, not completely sure that I would be able to run the whole thing.  As time went on I was able to run longer and farther until about three weeks before the race when I tried running the whole 3.22 miles with a couple of my running buddies (Janelle, on far right, and Noheli, smiley girl in the middle), which left me extremely sore!!! 

The week before the race I tried to keep the workouts light so I wouldn't be too sore to actually run the whole distance.  The night before, I had a huge cheeseburger (which, unfortunately stayed in my stomach longer than one would hope for!).  Kaleb had a conference in Boston that he had to leave for that morning so I asked my friend Sabrina to watch my kids while I was running.  She brought markers and poster board for them to make posters to cheer me on.  It was awesome to come around a corner and see my own little cheering section!!!!  It makes me kind of weepy just thinking about it!  I started off at a snail's pace and watched everyone I knew pass me by, but by the end I had caught up to everyone!! Although that cheeseburger threatened to come back up again towards the tail end of the race! (sorry tmi!) I finished the race in about 33 minutes, which was faster than my goal of under 40 minutes.  It was a great experience that I'm pretty sure I want to repeat again very soon in the near future.  Someday, maybe by the end of this year?, I would like to try a 10k (is that unrealistic/crazy?!).  Running is pure awesomeness!!!  I NEVER thought I would say that!