Yesterday I ran in my first 5K race, The Race for the Cure. I was super excited and also a little nervous. My sister Kim and I showed up with our personal cheerleaders in tow. (Thanks Mom and Dad! And my little man was the best cheer person of all.)
We arrived early and it was a good thing because it was PACKED. I believe they expected 20,000 people. Crazy. There was an amazing amount of vendors and sponsors and we spent some time checking out the freebies.
This is us a little bleary eyed first thing in the morning.
The atmosphere was so positive and upbeat. We were soon ready to start. (We are in the dark pink)
I have one thing to say about the course: HILLS :)
Other than that, it was a nice run. There were high school cheerleading squads along the way as well as TONS of supportive volunteers. I have to say--its much more fun when there are tons of people cheering you on.
Since this was my first race I wasn't sure how to pace myself. In my head I was just telling myself, "You're just out for a nice leisurely Sunday jog." I think I was secretly worried I wouldn't be able to finish for some reason and I wanted to keep myself calm and steady.
I spotted my family on the sidelines near the end of the race. My dad was trying to get a good picture of me running and I yelled, "I'm not stopping for pictures." This caused some laughter among my fellow racers. I got a chance to wave to my son as I cruised past.
I kept an eye on my watch and knew I had no time to linger if I wanted to make it under 30 minutes.
As I came around the bend and spotted the finish line I burst into a sprint. Its funny how balloons, music and a huge crowd can motivate you to turn on the speed.
I finished in 29:56.
I was super excited and pretty proud of myself and my sister.
Here we are with our race shirts afterwards.
And here I am with my favorite cheerleader.
Afterwards we loaded up and headed over to "refuel".
Yep, at 10:00 in the morning I downed a Boca burger and fries at Dennys.Guilt free. Yum.