#4 -- DONE!!!!!

So, this post is REALLY, REALLY late...however, I just haven't had time to get my 101 Things posts done lately.  Late in 2010, I decided that there wasn't a better time than the present to attempt to run in my first 5K.  Seeing as how my friend, Kathleen is a super-serious runner (i.e. she's ran in several half marathons and even one full marathon), I begged her to run a 5K with me.  The begging part came into play because the race I decided to run was held at 10:00 am on 1/1/11!  Yep, you read that right, I signed up to run a 5K on New Year's Day morning after being up late celebrating the new year the night before...not my brightest moment.  Either way, she agreed, and I started training.

I know this is silly, but I was soooo much more nervous about this race than I was about the half marathon that I walked in November!  I honestly just didn't know if I could do it...and I don't say that often, so you can imagine how stressful this was for me!  It didn't help that on Friday night before the race (i.e. New Year's Eve), I stayed up later than I intended and I had a couple more drinks than I intended.  Regardless, I pulled myself out of bed early on Saturday morning, got dressed and headed downtown.

After getting to the race, Kathleen had to "show me the ropes" and told me I needed to get my bib and also get my chip to record my time.  Well, I went to get my bib, and you are never going to believe this...my bib number was #1!!!!!  Okay, so apparently, I was the first person to register for this race...that's not embarrassing (insert extreme sarcasm here!!!!!).  Anywho, I got over it when I had the following conversation with a volunteer:

Volunteer:  So, do you know your bib #?
Me:  Yes, I do...it's #1.
Volunteer:  Seriously?  You are really #1?
Me:  Yes, I'm afraid so.
Volunteer:  Wow!  I feel honored to meet you!!!!!

No one has EVER felt "honored to meet" me before, so I decided to just get over it and run.  =)

The race started and I quickly realized that a lot of people were walking the race...once I realized I wouldn't finish last, I really relaxed and started enjoying myself.  I won't say that I ran the entire race, and I also won't say that it was the easiest thing I have ever done, but when I knew I was coming up on the end, I knew I could finish this.  It was such a good feeling to know that I had accomplished something that I truly wasn't sure I could do.  As I approached the finish line, I hear someone cheering me on, and I look up to see Kathleen and Mickey (who had finished before me), then I crossed the finish line and saw my beau over to the side snapping pictures.  I was seriously proud of myself for this accomplishment! 

I'm the one in grey -- I HATE this picture of myself...I only included it to prove that I was actually running.  =)

Me at the finish line with Kat and Mickey!

One last finish line pic!

That evening, the scores were posted and turns out my finishing time was 36:25...not too shabby for my first time!  Stay tuned for more races in the future.  =)