I RAN A 5K

It happened!  I woke up on Sunday morning and was so nervous, and anxious, and excited, and totally ready to go.  I just kept imagining the sense of accomplishment I was about to experience, and it happened.  I ran 3.1 miles without stopping.  And it felt amazing. 

The race I did was an annual event to raise money for The Breast Cancer Coalition of Rochester.  I love that all of the money raised (which the news said was over 20 thousand dollars!) stays right here at home.  I went to pick my registration stuff up on Saturday. The cancer Supporters got a light pink bandana, and the Survivors got a dark pink one.  I was totally psyched to put my stuff on bright and early on Sunday morning, but my friend told me that I absolutely COULD NOT wear my race shirt to the race.  She told me I'd look like such a rookie.  (Duh, who would want that??)

So instead, I wore this:

That lovely guy I'm married to bought me a brand new running outfit for Mother's Day.  I felt so legit. He used to actually be a real runner who broke records and stuff, so his support was awesome.  I've never in my life owned real running clothes, and now I do.  And yes, I posed for pictures instead of, oh, I don't know, stretching or something silly.

Of course, the first thing I had to do as soon as I got out of the car was go to the bathroom.  Unfortunately, so did everyone else.  This is just a tiny portion of one ridiculously long line. There were about 6 lines of the same crazy length.  I decided I didn't really have to go that badly after all.



So finally it was time to line up.  I might be somewhere in that crowd.  

Or maybe I'm in this one.

Wow, look at all those rookies.  (And do you see that one lone GUY?  Yeah, he must have missed the memo that this was a women's only race.   Seriously though, that sea of pink was so energizing, motivating, and inspiring. 

I hope my feet don't fail me now...

That thing on my shoe was my time chip.  Cool, right?



And then we were off.  And it was exactly at this time that I realized I had made perhaps my most fatal ROOKIE mistake. When it was time to line up, there were little markers down the path with numbers on them.  You were supposed to line up according to how fast you were going to run. Since I was planning on finishing in just about 30 minutes, I stood with the 10-minute crowd. 

People kept telling me to just plan on going slowly at first since I'd have to weave in and out of a lot of people.  Once the crowd thinned out, they'd said, I'd be able to get in my zone and just go.  Well, the crowd was literally so thick that not only could I not weave anywhere, I also couldn't get in my zone.  There were about 4 thousand runners there, and I'm pretty sure that 3500 of them were also planning on finishing in 30 minutes.  I WAS SO ANNOYED!!!!  The clock was ticking away and I was seriously stuck for about a half a mile in a painfully slow moving crowd. So note to self: next time, stand with the 7-8 minute group. Wear your legit clothes again and act like you belong. They'll never know the difference.

So I finished (with my friend Jessica, who I found at the turn!) with an official time of 32:34. That totally should have been 28 or 29 something, but that brutality at the beginning completely messed me all up.  But the most important thing here is that I FINISHED!  And I didn't walk at all, and I didn't die at the end. 

(My mom ended up running it, too.  I wish I had remembered to get a picture of us after we finished, since it was Mother's Day and all. But I'm kindof an idiot sometimes).

And then it was time to go eat!  My brother, sister and I made lunch for our mama.  This was one of my contributions to the table:

 

oooohhh, I'm so crafty.  Too bad it tipped
upside down on the way over there.
Husband told me it was due to my
crazy driving.  I told him he wasn't holding it well enough.
We love each other.



And in case you're wondering what else we made her:











Missing from this picture is my brother's contribution
of pizza logs and Doritos.

And cupcakes.  We ate cupcakes.  How delicious do these look?!
They were from an all-natural bakery.  I could have eaten at least 5.

Oh, one last thing.  I'm pretty sure I received better gifts than any other mother on this planet.  I mean, seriously. 

A beaded necklace, a bird with pink sequins (it's a pin!) AND hand painted flower pots??!?  Wow, I must be really loved.  I hope your day was as wonderful as mine was.

Have a healthy day,

J

Vacation from vacation

Hi!  I know it's been a while, huh?  I'm off from work this week, which is in turn, throwing my entire schedule off as well.  I always try to jam as many fun things into one week as is humanly possible, which always ends up backfiring and leaving the boys and I crazier than usual, and exhausted.  Sheesh, I'm totally gonna need a vacation from this vacation!

While I have been drooling over perusing friends' pictures on Facebook of their fancy migrations South, I have been living it up here in the ROC. Yep that's right, we've been coloring Easter eggs, eating our weight in jelly beans (oh wait, maybe that's just been me), going to swimming lessons, trying to catch up with friends who we never get to see because my stupid job gets in the way, and getting on eachother's nerves because we are never around eachother for this long at a time.  (Tune in to my other blog for my true feelings on spending a week "off" with the kids...) Butttt.... you don't read this for updates on my glorious life with two young heathens; you read it as a supplement to your healthy lifestyle.  So here are all of the healthy things I've been doing since I last posted 5 days ago:

1. Running!  OMG, it's true!  I officially signed up to run in the Mother's Day 5K to support the Breast Cancer Coalition of Rochester. This will be my very first 5K (since my health crapped out last year at just about this time, and I didn't get to do it). I'm excited, I'm nervous, and I still can't believe I'm really gonna do this.  So anyway, now that I've committed, I have been running three mornings a week.  I usually do anywhere from 1.5-2.5 miles.  Now for all of you runners, I totally get that this is like, nothing.  But for me, it's nothing shy of miraculous that I can actually run for 2 and a half miles without stopping.  Oh, hey, wanna sponsor me? Here's the link.

2. Pilates!  Yes!  I've done it 2 and a half times since my last post (the "half" comes in to play because there's a lot of pilates-type stuff the class I teach). I went to a class on my own will the other night, and then got to teach a class last night.  It was my first time in this particular gym, and it ended up being a great time.  I'm not sure if the best part was that I got to teach on a stage, or that I wore a sequin headband.  But those are just minor details. Hooray for working the core for an hour straight!

3. Zumba! I love it. True story. I've moved up to the front of the class. That's probably a really embarrassing thing to admit, but I don't really care. I'm sick of standing behind people who are either off beat, moving in the wrong direction, or both. So now people get to stand behind me. HA!



4. Making moves! I can't really elaborate on this one yet, but suffice it to say that I've been doing a lot of thinking about what's coming next in this game of Life. I think I'm coming to some agreements with myself, and I like where my thoughts are taking me.  I have no idea whether or not any of these thoughts will come to fruition, but whatever happens will surely be healthy for the mind and soul.

What healthy things have you been doing?  I'd love to hear. C'mon- inspire me!

Have a healthy day,

J