My First 5K

Well, I did it.

9 weeks of training and I actually did it.

I ran my first 5K.

And I'm here to tell you it was the worst and one of the most amazing experiences of my life at the very same time.

The weather leading up to the race last week was STIFLING...it was in the 90s and SO humid, we were completely dreading the run.  The only good thing was that the race started at 8:00am and it wasn't going to get any cooler than that so we sucked it up.

My buddy, Roslyn and I got to Registration early and since it was our first time, it was great to not feel rushed about picking up our packets and goodies.  We had my veteran running friend Missy there to guide us along the way.  She even brought bug spray - so smart, that girl!  We bug sprayed ourselves and drank a little bit of water and warmed up. 

Pre Race Photo Op - We're all still pretty...

My nerves at that point were completely rattled.  The race was put on by the company I work for which meant that I knew a lot of the runners as well as the spectators.  I wasn't expecting that I'd feel so anxious about that, but I definitely was.  

We made sure to hit up the potty room right before the race and as we were walking back, our families and friends got there and it made me so happy to see their faces that I started to cry a little bit.  They even made a great sign for us - that meant so much!

Cutest Cheerleaders EVER - right???!

The race folks called us to the start line and my heart began to beat really, really fast.  I remember looking down and seeing that it was at about 136...then they blew the starting horn and we were off.  I had my music going, and my handy RunKeeper running...I knew I could do this.  I began running and was doing okay, except that my nerves were still completely out of whack...I kept trying to calm myself down but it was not working.  I was excited because my friends were doing so great, I could see them ahead of me and I was so proud!  This was a first for us!  Then, at about the 1/2 mile mark, my new handy dandy arm band holding my iPhone began to hit the start button which triggered the music to stop and start and the Siri beeps to begin...I swear to GAWD it did that the whole rest of the race...

So, I live in a part of the country that is very hilly...and I mean, you can't go 20 yards without there being some sort of hill.  But that's okay because my training is on hills, so I was alright.  However, at about mile 1 my heart rate was so high and I was so hot from said hills that I literally had to stop running and walk a little bit.  My heart rate monitor said my heart rate was at 189.  That is high.  Like way high...my usual high HR is about 178...that's when I know I need to slow my pace down.  Well, there was no slowing this pace down.  So I had to do exactly what I didn't want to do and that I swore I would NOT do:  I had to walk.  I cannot tell you the disappointment that I felt at that moment.  Everything that I had envisioned for this race went out the window.  I was defeated...I realized that I was last...I wanted to cry...and I was M. A. D.  You cannot imagine the thoughts that ran through my head.  I was mean.

When I could, I began running again and as I came around the turn for the first lap, my dear, sweet husband was waiting for me with water and a cool towel.  I just jogged up to him as he ran along side of me and I said, "I'm last...and I had to walk."  He said "Who cares, you are doing great, you keep going."  So I did...I kept going, and I ran for most of the way but by the time I got to the 2nd lap, I still could not get my heart rate down...I was dying...And at that moment, I honest to goodness thought about quitting.  You don't know me, but I am competitive...I am not a quitter...but I wanted to walk to my car and drive away.  I started to cry thinking about how far I still had to go...and then I saw my husband again and he knew exactly what it had taken me to get to this point and he just said it again..."Keep going, Jenn...You got this."  So, I did...I kept going and as I rounded the last bend, my buddy Roslyn (who had finished and was waiting for me), and another co-worker came to finish with me.  I finished at 44:46.

I ran across the finish line and apparently the words that I uttered were:  "I'm never fu$#%ing doing that again."  I say apparently because I truly and honestly do not remember saying that, but about 10 witnesses have confirmed.

Last Runner In :)

Anyway, that's the description of the "worst" part about it.  I've had time to think about things and go over what went wrong and what I did not anticipate was that my nerves would get the best of me.  I'm so upset with myself about that.  I had run almost 4 miles so many times without needing to stop and walk and I never imagined that I wouldn't be able to do it at the race.  That was the most disappointing part about it...

But here's the "amazing" part about it.  I am so stinking proud of myself.  I ran a FREAKING 5K...and no I didn't run the whole thing, but I estimated that I walked for about 5 minutes total...that's nothing!  And afterwards, my friends and I all just spent hours talking about how much it sucked...how hard it was for all of us (even experienced runners!)...how each one of us was feeling at any given moment during the race...what we felt like when we got to certain points in the race...and I loved every single moment of that bonding experience. 

We did it!  And look, I'm smiling....

Anddd...I can't wait to do it again.

Even though it sucked...even though it was hard...I cannot wait to do it again.  Next time, I'm gonna own that bitch.

I'm a runner ya'll.

5K Linkup May 21, 2013

 

 

Hiya!  It's time for our Spring Training Linkup with Katie and Kim!

 

Whelp, now we are LESS than TWO weeks away from race day - GAH!

 

Last week I was freaking out a little, I'm a little better now, but I still get all butterflyish when I think about it.  I can't believe how close it is!  I'm still a little nervous that the entire course is on grass - I really, REALLY hope they mow it down as low as they can for us, but I'll have to prepare myself if that's not the case.  I haven't been back to run the course, but I have been training a lot this last week and I'm feeling confident that I'll be able to do the entire thing running (...she says over and over and over to herself...)

 

I have worked in sprints twice this week, including one extremely, horribly HOT and I mean H.A.W.T day...it was just awful and I had to stop, I couldn't do the whole thing and it made me so mad!  I got angry hot...like, um, mean.  Apparently, this gal is a much nicer runner/person when she has a nice cool breeze blowing on her...'cuz the 91 degree heat unleashed this angry bitchy chick and she wasn't pretty...

 

I ran 10.54 miles in the last week.  Wow, I just added that up and I'm pretty impressed with myself!  That equates to three runs, so I'm averaging 3.5miles a run.  Two of the runs, I was able to do the whole thing.  Those are the ones that are making me feel better about the race.  I've run a few full 5ks since I've been training but these newest ones are making me more confident about the fact that the race is A. Week. From. Saturday.

 

If anyone is interested, I found this article online about how to get ready right before the race and it was pretty interesting to read:

 

http://www.active.com/running/Articles/What-to-Do-Before-Your-5K

 

Oh, and this made me laugh so I had to share:

 

Google Images

And today is my honey's birthday - Love him!

 

 

5K Linkup April 30, 2013

Good morning, friends!

It's time for an update on the 5K Spring Training Challenge!

Unfortunately, my update is that I got hurt, boo.  I'm pretty sure it happened last Tuesday when I was doing my butt exercises and I guess I got a little butt crazy because I woke up on Wednesday morning and my inner thigh/groin area was in a lot of pain.  I just thought it was from the squat challenge and that it was a sore muscle or something from working it.

So, that morning, I got up, got ready and I went out and ran 2.6 miles and it seemed like the pain went away.  I was so excited that I had the time to run and that I could go...I felt like a real runner.  I guess I still get excited about that.  Anyway, I went about my day afterwards, was a little sore, but actually ran that night, too and even ran in the rain!  When I woke up on Thursday morning, I could barely walk.  Again, I just thought it was sore muscles not an actual injury.  By the end of that night, I was in a WHOLE LOTTA pain and I finally accepted that I had actually hurt myself.  I was warned by my friend, Missy that I was to REST for a few days and take it easy.

Do you know what I do when someone tells me that I should rest?  I want to NOT rest.  So, I asked her, "What exactly does that mean?  No running?" and she said, "It means rest...as in try not to do much at all." and I said, "Like, not even walk??" and finally she conceded that easy walking might be okay.

Well...on Friday, I went out for my walk and I quickly realized that it was a BAD idea...and the worst part is that I didn't fully admit it to myself until I was about a mile out...which meant, I had to walk about a mile back...I'm obviously stubborn and can't admit weakness...is that a bad thing??  I know, I know, better to rest than to suffer a severe injury down the road.

SO, I had my first injury...and it sucked...and it sidelined me for the weekend and I still haven't run this week yet.  I plan to, though, tomorrow.  I feel great and I hope that I've given myself enough time to fully heal and that this little injury is behind me.  Because I have a race to train for!

Tomorrow, my buddy and I are going to do some sprint training.  Has anyone does this?  Apparently, it can really help when you're training.  Basically, you warm up for about 5-10 minutes with a jog, then alternate for 30 minutes of sprinting then jogging, then a 5-10 minute cool down.

I'll let you know how it goes!  Hope everyone has a great, injury-free, week!

5K Linkup - April 23, 2013

 

Hello lovelies!!  It's time for the 5K Challenge Linkup with Katie and Kim!  I'd like to thank them both for encouraging all of us to do this little thing because it has honestly changed me so much.

 

Well, it's official:  yesterday, I registered for my race - AHHHH!!  Sh*% just got real.  I think I was actually the first person to register; I guess I'm THAT excited to do this.  Even though every time I think about it, my tummy does a little lurch.

 

I also have another accomplishment from training this past week.  On Friday, I ran 3.8 miles in 48 minutes!  I really don't care about my time at this point because my goal is really just to run the whole thing so having two of my own 5K's under my belt is really beginning to boost my confidence.

 

When I started off on Friday, I just gave myself permission to do whatever I felt like doing.  In other words, didn't go with the mindset that I was going to run 1 mile, 2 miles or 3 miles; I was just going to run.  So that's what I did.  One of the things I've learned about myself during my training is that I am a morning runner.  I have tried numerous times to get some distance in an after work run and I just haven't been able to do it.  At about 1 mile, I just peter out.  So, it was a beautiful morning, kind of cool so I just went out.  I did a quick warm up of about .3 miles and then started running in my neighborhood with no real plan about where to go.  I have a lot of hills in my 'hood so I sort of tried to avoid those, but when it was inevitable, I just took them...sloooowlllyy.  My phone gives me updates at every half mile and I was a little surprised that it said that I was averaging 4 mph because that used to be my fast run; I thought that was kind of cool.  

 

I do have to admit, though, that at about mile 1.5, my little RunKeeper chick came on to tell me how far I'd gone and I thought to myself..."This succcckkkksss..."  I couldn't believe that I had been running for 17 minutes or so and I still had halfway to go.  I wasn't in pain, nor did I feel like I needed to stop so the only thing I had to keep doing was to keep running.  And that just made it suck more.  I guess what I'm trying to say is that in that moment, I honest to goodness just thought, "How in the HELL do people run a marathon or even a half marathon??  It takes for - e - ver!"  But, I sucked it up and stomped that whiny puss down and just kept on going...and I did it, I ran past my 5K mark and by that time, I wasn't at my house, so I just kept on running 'til I got home.  And when I looked at my phone and saw that it was 3.8 miles, I literally laughed out loud.  I mean, how in the heck does a chubby chick like me run 3.8 miles without dying?  Well, I've lived to tell about it so it can be done.

 

When I was done, I felt amazing.  I burst into my house and yelled to my dear Hubs:  "THREE POINT EIGHT, BABY!"  What I'm about to describe to you became my A-HA moment of the week.  I felt as good about that run as I do when I see a loss on my scale.  Honest to goodness feeling of euphoria.

 

YES, it was that good.  And that is why I made a huge decision (for me, because I'm addicted) about the scale that day which I will expound upon on Non-Scale Victory Thursday...so check back!

 

 

 

5K Linkup April 9, 2013

It's 5K Challenge time!

I was worried about this post this week...the reason being is that it's been quite a struggle for me to improve the past few times out and I was getting discouraged.  And I mean, pissed off-crying-discouraged.  I am in Week 5 of the C25K, and it was kicking my ass.  I could not do it and it made me angry.

I had no idea what kind of a competitor I am and it's not that I want to beat anyone else...I want to beat ME.  I have found this inner beast within myself since I began my journey and I can't believe how strong she is.  Mentally and physically I am not the same person that I was when I began 17 months ago.

Then came this challenge...if you ever want to know what you're capable of, begin running.  Is that weird to say??  Honest to goodness, in my case, it is true.  In the past, if anyone asked me if I wanted to run, I would recoil violently and squish up my face in disgust and say, "NO!!  Why in the HELL would I EVER want to do that??  Have you ever actually looked at a runner??  No runner EVER looks like they are having fun!!"  And following those statements, I would go on a rant about how bad I'VE HEARD running could be for your body - your joints get all jacked up and seriously, WHY would anyone want to just RUN?!!

Now?  Well, I'm a runner.  I can officially say this because just last night, I ran a WHOLE mile straight...in fact, I ran 1.1 miles, thankyouverymuch.

But here's the cool thing...I was getting discouraged this last week because I was trying to do too much too fast.  Instead of staying on my C25K path, I decided that I could just do what I wanted to and even though I didn't have any distance under my belt, somehow I thought it would be pretty badass to try to shave off some time.  THIS was a bad idea.  I mean B.A.D.  I couldn't do it.  I was dying after just a little distance.  My heart rate was so high that I couldn't catch my breath and it was awful, I HATED it.  I seriously began doubting if I'd be ready for my June 1st race.

Then, one of my training buddies sent me this great article from RunnersWorld(dot)com and it MAGICALLY changed things!!  Basically, what the article states is that if you are running, you should be running at only 55-65% of your maximum heart rate.  And I wasn't...I was running very damn NEAR my maximum heart rate and that's why it was so hard.  What did all of this mean for me?  I had to slow things down.  If you have been following my 5K Challenge journey, you know that I like to call what I do "wogging" - a combo of walking & jogging because I'm not at all fast.  NOW, I had to go even SLOWER.  But guess what?  It freaking worked.

So for the next few weeks, I'm going to work my training this way.  And THEN I'll see if I can work on shaving some time off - right now, I'm not going to worry about how long it's going to take.  My whole plan all along was just to be able to run the whole thing - I have no idea where I got it up my butt to try to do it fast.  But let me tell you, I have tossed that idea right out the window.

BTW - that mile felt amazing - my first runner's high - yayyyyy!

I love this quote; it's SO me and damn if I'm not proud to shout it to the world:

Non-Scale Victories February 21

Where did this week go?  Is it possible for a week to go slowly and fast at the same time??  And we still have one more day to get through!

My non-scale victories list for this week is pretty short; I must remember to write these little things down as I think of them.

I went a teensy bit overboard last weekend; not too crazy but I decided not to stress and try to relax in regard to eating...I'm trying to do that more - it's HARD!  Anyway, since I did enjoy more than I normally do, I worked out every day.  I normally try to take a rest day in between but I did some good cardio burning every single day including Saturday and Sunday.  I tried the 30 Day Shred and can I just say, "Owwww!"  It was such a good workout!  Also, my gym buddy even had me try some crazy treadmill moves which, BTDubs, is not easy for me as I am one of the clumsiest peeps I know.  I was a little nervous, but with some hidden ninja-like moves and perhaps a little new found core strength, I did not trip or fall off said treadmill - yay!

The one NSV that actually stuck out in my mind is that I forced myself to go to bed early a few nights in the past week JUST so that I didn't eat everything I wanted to...and boy did I want to!  I hate when I have that feeling:  that uncontrollable-nothing-will-satisfy-me urge...you know what I'm talking about?

I've also been trying to ween myself off of the sugar I put into my coffee and for the past two weeks, I've been able to have my favorite morning iced latte with just unsweetened vanilla almond milk and my liquid stevia drops.  I'm happy to report that I've finally discovered my perfect combination of flavor deliciousness!  It's honestly the favorite part of my work morning...it literally makes me happy just thinking about it!

That's all I have to report for this week!  I hope all of you had some great NSV's, too!