Monday, May 2, 2011

Doughnut Dash!

Hello again readers! A lot has happened since last I posted!

Yesterday, Sunday, May 1, 2011, I completed my very first 5k! The 2nd Annual Top Pot Doughnut DashIt was sort of an impromptu sign-up a week prior to the race, but we couldn't pass it up.

Check out the 1:00 mark and you should see my pink head bobbing up and down. Oh, and we're in the still frame too! How awesome!



We finished in under an hour, and we weren't LAST... which was one of my biggest fears. I was proud of our final results. There were 5 clear goals I had for this race:
  1. Don't die. Crossing the finish line in a body bag is unacceptable.
  2. No injuries. Yes, soreness is going to happen (and most certainly did happen) but no real injuries.
  3. Finish the race. I've been told that "just finishing" is a huge goal for your first 5k. 
  4. Don't finish last. I am a fat girl. I am aware of my situation. However, finishing last was NOT okay in my book.
  5. Eat the donut. Everyone who ran got a free Top Pot Doughnut and diabetes be damned, I was going to eat my donut. I ran 3.1 miles for it... it was mine!
And I managed all five of them!! Thanks to my running mate, Tonja, I made it all the way through the race. She kept me going and kept me from injuring myself. Just before mile 1, my right calf seized on me and I wasn't able to run anymore. So we walked the last 2/3 of the race. It hurt my pride to watch people who I'd seen smoking and people 3 times my age pass me by... but I got over it by mile 2 and just kept going.

There were amazing people at this race. I have learned that having bright pink hair makes people feel like you are approachable and easy to talk to. I had little girls running by me whose parents were using my hair as an opportunity for grammar lessons, "Who wants pink hair?" "Me!!" "No sweetie... it's 'I do!'" I had a woman with purple hair tell me about a little boy who was enamored with both her hair and mine as they ran by. I had another woman approach me to tell me that she overheard us talking about the Warrior Dash in July and that she'd see us there.

I started to cry at mile 1 because I felt I had so far to go. The pain was intense, I couldn't breathe (fuck you, Asthma!) and my pride was doing the death march. After that point, I had to keep moving. We managed to run in the last 50 or so feet... and once my feet crossed that finish line, I lost it again.

That was one of the proudest moments of my life. We did it. We actually completed an entire 5k.


3 comments:

  1. You finnished. You finnished your first 5k. That is an acomplinshment. I am very proud of you and of Tonja. So Awesome!

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  2. We did it! We finished and we have a time to beat! We set a comfy pace out of the gate. We had landmarks to go after time and again. And prior to the cramp from hell, we were doing really well on our Run/Walking plan! I know we can beat our time. We just need a bit more training and a bit more stretching... maybe some dietary awareness... we're gonna do better next time!

    And if we finish Warrior Dash in 54 minutes, that's going to be one hell of a feather in our caps!

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