The BE5K

So almost a year ago Eric decided, on a whim, to run a 5K. Our church was sponsoring it and the proceeds go to missions, so it's for a good cause. Little did we know this one simple run would get him hooked. I'm not even sure how many 5K's he's run in since then but probably somewhere around 15-20 of them in the past 10 months. I've also started running although I didn't catch the running bug the way he did. I have more trouble getting motivated and prioritizing my time to fit running into my already crazy schedule. But Every couple of months I'll run in a 5K and about once a week I'll run in our neighborhood or at the track (with Riley in the jogging stroller) or on the treadmill.

I was very excited when the day after Christmas I ran for an entire mile... without stopping... for the first time EVER in my life. Sad, but true. I've just never been much of a runner. That Saturday I ran in my 3rd 5K and my sister-in-law, Whitney, and her husband, Nathan, ran in it as well. Nathan finished just a little bit ahead of me (probably 30 seconds or so). I knew about 6 weeks later we were all going to be running in the BE5K in Birmingham which is hosted by BE&K (where Nathan works). Since I had come SO close to beating Nathan in the December race, I decided I would train hard and beat him in HIS race. But then I had PRK eye surgery and was out of commission for 2 weeks and then Riley had his eye surgery and, well, I know it's just excuses, but I only ended having one week to actually train for the race. Not looking too good for me to beat Nathan.

The Thursday before the race, I did finally break my previous record of running 1 mile without walking. See, usually, as soon as I hit the 1 mile mark I CANNOT make myself run another single step. I HAVE to walk. But that Thursday, I ran 1.5 miles without stopping. I was so proud and excited. I know, pride isn't good, but in the grand scheme of things, I'm still going at a snail's pace so I figure it's okay to proud of yourself for being mediocre. :-P

So race day came. And I ran. I was watching my time hoping to reach the 1 mile marker in less than 11 minutes, but 11 minutes came and went and I didn't see the mile marker. Then 12 minutes. Then 13. At that point I was still running and I was pretty sure I HAD to have gone a mile already. It was a pretty big race so I thought maybe I was in a crowd when I went by the 1 mile point and just didn't realize I had passed it. And I had no way to know when I'd been 1.5 miles, but I decided I'd run for 16 minutes before allowing myself to walk. This turned out to be right at the water station which turned out to be... right at 1.5 miles! I guess I should have known. So anyway, I walked and ran the rest of the race. There was an out and back part from about 1.5 miles until somewhere around 2.8 miles which was kind of nice because I was able to see Eric (and cheer him on!) and I knew he was doing well and way up toward the front. And then I saw Nathan and cheered him on as well which he said was a real motivator because he was about to start walking but decided to run one more block after hearing me yell at him. ;-)

I was finally getting near the end of the race. There was a couple of turns right at the end so you couldn't see the finish line until you came around the last corner, but a block before that they had the road all blocked off to keep spectators out of the street so I knew I was getting close and I poured on the heat. There were a lot of other runners around me and ahead of me but I sped up and passed at least 2 dozen of them before crossing the finish line. Boy was I glad to be finished. Unfortunately I didn't meet my goal of finishing in under 35 minutes, but I was close. And I'm pretty sure I'll make that next time. We didn't get any pics of any of us running (although there are some from the finish line at brightroom.com) but we did get a pic after the race. **Please pardon my brother-in-law for the shirt he's wearing. No one is perfect.**

And did I mention how awesome my husband did? He finished 4th in his age group out of 56 runners! How amazing is that! And he was only 11 seconds behind 3rd place so he ALMOST got an award. He was 54th in his division (men) and 61st overall out of over 1100 runner! Can you tell I'm proud of him? ;-D My brother-in-law, Nathan, did really well also. He finished in just over 30 minutes (more than 5 minutes ahead of me!!!) and was 32nd out of 57 in his age group. And if you care, I was 45th in my age group out of 81. That sure beats my usual LAST place in my age group finish I always seem to have at all of the local races.