What A Race! 5K Recap

I could not have picked a worse day for my first 5K race!  I woke up to teeming rain and 40 degrees.  I pouted around and watched the weather channel for a few minutes.  The reality hit that it was not going to be the glorious sunshiny day I had envisioned, but I wasn’t going to let the rain stop me from doing this today!

I made sure to get up in enough time to eat a “power breakfast” of banana and PB2…

Then, took some pre-race “meds”…

We piled in the car and headed off to the race.  In this glorious weather…

It didn’t take long for us to get to the firehouse where the race was beginning.  This race was to benefit First Responders (police, fire and ambulance) and one of the reasons I chose this race is that the course included the street where my in-laws live!  The husband and daughters planned on camping out on their lawn to watch me run by!  My parents also were planning to be waiting at the finish line, so I had a full house to cheer me on!

When we arrived at the firehouse, I checked in and got my bib number…

There was a flurry of activity in the firehouse.  You could feel the energy of everyone waiting to race.  I ended up seeing cousins of a friend of mine there!  They have done this race before and gave me a few pointers.  It was nice to see familiar faces!

We were called to the starting line which was about a block away and we all lined up…

The gun sounded and we were off…

I fiddled with my music for a second to put it on and off I went.  I was so nervous.  My heart was beating so fast;  my legs were wobbly and my breathing was labored from the start.  The rain was coming down, my feet were soaking wet within minutes and made my feet feel like bricks.

As I was trying to calm myself down,  I saw the pack of racers getting further and further away from me.   It was almost like I was in slow motion.   I really was DEAD LAST.  It was my biggest fear, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get a hold of myself.  About a half mile into it, I started to cry.  I felt so weak and I was sure that I would not be able to finish this race.  I beat myself up for even trying this and couldn’t help feeling foolish for thinking I could run this race.  I kept running (okay, jogging!) while all this noise was going on in my head because even though I wasn’t sure I would be able to finish the race, I didn’t want to flat-out quit either!  So, I kept going while I was debating with myself the whole time.  It was a crazy mental game going on in my head!

Then, I realized that I was totally alone.  There was not a runner in site;  they had all far surpassed any possibility for me to catch up.  I would have had to sprout wings at this point!  Finally, at about 1.5 miles in, I was able to regain some composure and get myself into a regular breathing pattern.  That helped with my strength a little and at that point, I told myself that I CAN DO THIS!  I knew if I didn’t get distracted, I could finish running this race.  Walking was not an option for me;  I wanted to run this race and I refused to walk any of it or I knew I would be really disappointed in myself.  So, I tried my best to stay focused and breathe, breathe, breathe.

There were lots of volunteers to cheer me along the way and thankfully, direct me where to go since there was no one ahead of me to follow!  There were Boy Scouts along the side offering water/lemonade and were so excited to hand one off to me.  I made sure to grab one even though I couldn’t drink and run at the same time –LOL!

When I got to the 2.5 mile mark, I saw my family ( Husband, daughters, Mom, Dad, MIL and FIL) waiting on the side to cheer for me!  The funny (and completely lame) part was that the police from the First Responders Run came by to “check on me”!!  I guess they were wondering where the heck I was, so they had to check (so did the bike police) and ending up following me in for the rest of the race…

You can imagine how embarrassed I was to have a police escort for my race!  This may require years of therapy to get over

Here’s another one of me, my police escort and my family (my Dad is on the right and actually ran a few blocks next to me!)…

When I rounded the corner for the final stretch, my friend’s cousin came back to meet me.  He started jogging next to me, saying “C’mon Marisa…you can do it…you only have 100 yards left… you can do it… you’re going to finish… you’re almost there…look at the clock…you’re almost there…”

And I finally crossed the finish line!  I friggin’ didn’t quit and I did it! I ran the whole thing without stopping.  Whew!  My time was 41:46 and, although sucky in the race world, it really surprised me.  I felt like I was out there for hours!  Especially with the police escort and all… ;P

The finish line was cool;  random people hugging and congratulating me and my family hugging and cheering.  It made me feel really special and I’m so thankful that they all came out in the bad weather to support me.

We headed back into the firehouse for the awards.  It was fun to cheer for the other runners and congratulate them on their times.  Now, the funniest part of the whole thing (besides the police escort)… I got an award for 2nd place in my age group!  ROTFLMAO!  It “pays” to be old!

All in all, I was so glad that I did the race.  It was a good example for me and to reinforce in myself that I am capable of a lot more than I think I am.  I have never been competitive, never been a sports player, I have never been in shape and up until 10 months ago, have never ran.  It’s a great feeling to push yourself to do something and then do it.  It made me realize that the only thing stopping me from accomplishing something is ME.  Now, I know that I can do anything I set my mind to.  It’s a good feeling and I came out of the race feeling…knowing…that I will get to goal and keep this weight off for a lifetime

ONE GOOD THING:  I was able to set a good example for my daughters today.  I pushed myself outside of my comfort zone.  I ventured to do something I never thought I could do.  And no matter how badly I wanted to quit, I stuck with it and made it to the end.

Thanks so much to all of YOU for your wonderful comments and support!  YOU all helped me get through the race, too!