Gravity Defied: Running the 5k

John, Natalie, Teri, Amy, and Moi

Well, I ran the 5k.  A week ago.  I haven't blogged in a week.  Shame on me.  I have some valid excuses and some not so valid excuses.  I'll explain my lack of presence in the blogging world in another post, right now I just want to talk about the 5k.

Running the 5k was exhilarating.  My sister-in-law Teri, her husband John, her daughter Natalie, and my sister-in-law Amy ran the race with me.  My niece, Natalie is amazing.  She just graduated from high school where she spent 4 years running cross-country and track.  In fact she is a State Champion in the 4x800 (I think).  Ya, she's pretty awesome.  Running a 5k was like a warm-up for her.  Seriously, she ran it in 20 minutes and she probably could have done it faster, but she didn't feel like it.  Needless to say she was up at the front and I didn't see her again until the end of the race.

I was at the back of the pack for most of the race but I kept a steady pace and I RAN THE WHOLE WAY!  I had two goals coming into the race.  I wanted to run the whole way (which I did) and I wanted to finish in under 35 minutes.  As I turned the corner to start the last leg of the race, I saw my niece Natalie waiting on the sidelines.  I thought she was there to just cheer me on, but then she fell into step next to me and I realized that she was going to run the rest of the race with me.  I tell you, this girl is the sweetest thing ever!

Me and Natalie crossing the finish line.

As I got closer to the finish line, I looked up at the clock.  It read 34:40.  Suddenly, I felt this burst of energy and I kicked up the pace!  I really wanted to accomplish both my goals so I booked it across the finish line.  If you look in the picture above, you can see the clock.  It says 34:59.  I thought I finished just in the nick of time.  My actual time was 34:38.  This was a chip race, so it clocked my race time only when I went over the start and finish line.  So, since I was towards the back of the pack at the beginning of the race, the clock showed that it took me longer to run the race than it actually did.  But, the chips don't lie and the chip said I met and exceeded my goal of finishing under 35 minutes. 

The crew after the race!

Running/racing is addicting.  When I got home, I immediately got on the computer and started looking for other races to compete in.  I can honestly say I love it.  No, it's not always easy but I am finding that it is so worth it!

Gravity....consider yourself defied!

*The proceeds from this race benefited brain tumor research.  In 2000, my sister-in-law Becky and her husband Paul lost their baby girl to brain cancer.  We ran this race in memory of Raquel.