My First 5k in 4 Years

Friday night I laid down in bed ready to get a full night's sleep before the race on Saturday. My husband instantly fell asleep. Sleep, however, eluded me. My nerves were going crazy. I heard myself questioning myself. I couldn't shut my mind off. It kept running around and around the idea of my first 5k being the next day. Eventually I fell asleep only to wake up several times throughout the night. I woke up at 7 feeling exhausted, wishing I didn't have a race and that I could just fall back asleep in my warm comfortable bed.

But it was time to get up. Quickly I showered knowing it would take a while to French braid my hair. It took longer than I expected. For some reason, my hair and hands just wouldn't cooperate. It had been a while since I had done this pre-race ritual, which was evident in my interestingly braided hair.

We got into the car to drive to the race site. My heart beating so quickly I thought it would jump out of my chest. We checked in, pinned on our numbers, put our race t-shirt in the car, and set out to jog around to get warmed up. When it came to stretching I couldn't remember what my pre-race routine was. Finally I felt ready, but we still had 20 minutes until the race began. Then the rain began to come down.

Time ticked slowly by. I was ready to get running, but the race hadn't started yet. Finally we all walked to the starting line.

"Runners! Take your mark!" BANG! The gun fired and we were off. I found a pace that seemed to feel good, so we kept it for the most part. We passed the first mile marker at 10 minutes 11 seconds. A little bit further, my mind games started. It was a good thing Jon was right there beside me encouraging me every step of the way. As we approached the mile 2 marker, I found myself saying "I can't." Jon responded, "Yes, you can." Once we passed the second mile marker I had a hard time convincing myself I could do it. It became a struggle for me resulting in walking several times. Then my knee started hurting, a result of my IT band. Finally we passed the marker for mile 3. Only 0.1 miles left. I saw the finish and lengthened my stride. We got closer. Jon and I started sprinting, hoping to beat the other. We got close to the final turn and I moved left thinking I was farther ahead of Jon than I was. As a result, I bumped him making him slow down. I finished.

My time was 35:27. It certainly wasn't an award-winning time, but that didn't matter. What mattered was that I finished. I won because I finished. It was my first race back. Jon reminded me on the drive home, "There's only up from here."

I don't know how I would have done if he hadn't been beside me encouraging me. I do know now that I am more determined to run more consistently and run more miles in order to have a better time for my next race. When that race will be, I don't know, but it will happen and when it does I will beat Saturday's time of 35:27. I will run the whole time. I will not say "I can't." I will finish with a better time, a better attitude, and a better overall experience. I will finish.