Monday, September 10, 2012

Another first for me..

I finished my first 5k yesterday

with my Bootcamp Family members.



 I showed up to this event with shin splints, a sweet shirt, a smile and a ton of fears. (Not finishing, failing, hurting myself, looking stupid in front of my peers).

Throughout the race I kept a good pace for myself.. I think, I know I could have done better..(Next time!!!)  First of all, I wore 2 pairs of socks. Terrible idea! I actually had to stop to take off the 2nd pair because they made my feet hurt so bad. I also failed to take a suggestion to get new insoles until I could get a new pair of shoes. The bottoms of my feet felt like blisters, my shins were on fire. I wanted to give up. My head started to tell me I couldn't do this. Everyone else was better at this than me, but then I told myself.. they're at a different level of conditioning than I am. I could see all of my teammates in front of me and when they passed me on the way back I cheered them on as they cheered me on.

When I finally made it to where you turn around I decided mentally this is when I needed to really push myself. I tried to walk less, run more. One of my trainers had given me a time of 50 mins that he wanted me to stay under. So, a bit frantic I kept looking at my watch and pushing through that pain that made me want to quit so badly. I was running side by side by one of my bootcamp family members on the way back and even though we weren't talking I knew we were both mentally pushing each other to continue. People who had already finished the race before us started lapping us. I started to see a couple of my Bootcamp family members running to do another lap, shit. I was quite frustated at this point and just wanted to keep pushing forward to the finish. Then I realized, they weren't coming to lap us.. they were coming to push us, to support us, to show us we can do it. I started to tear up as soon as I realized that, because here I thought they thought of me as weak, when they just wanted me to see how strong I really am. Okay, keep going!!! My body said stop but they said no..YOU'VE GOT THIS. So, I went and when I crossed that corner i've never ran so fast in my entire life. I wanted that so damn bad. The feeling of accomplishment I felt when I crossed that finish line was by far one of the BEST feelings i've ever felt. I will NEVER forget it.

 The best part you ask?


Being 150% sure they would have carried me across that finish line if I hadn't been able to.


Thank you!!

First 5k time 44:20





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