Saturday, August 22, 2009

My First 5k

What an experience. If it had been named 5k HIKE - I might have been a little more prepared. Nevertheless, we ran, we hiked and we finished. (WE=My friend Jenni and I)Here I am ready to go. Jenni had picked up our packets the night before. I thought I would be festive and wear the free shirt they gave us. Let me give you some background. I started running on July 4th. There is another friend, Angela, who is running a half marathon in October and was starting a group training. I thought - I don't like to run, I have never ran further than a mile, I'm not interested. They were starting out easy - run 1 min. walk 2 mins, repeat 10x's. I thought - I could do that - it would be good to get exercise.

Well - it was so fun running with friends, I started a training schedule to help build my endurance to run 30 minutes without stopping. We were doing great and on July 18th we ran 4 miles, doing 4:1 intervals. It felt awesome and I couldn't believe in 2 weeks I could run 4 miles without passing out. Wahoo.

However the next week I should have rested a little more. My right ankle area started hurting. I was still running and then I would try to take it easy. After another 2 weeks - I was given a brochure on common running injuries. I read though everything and finally found the description of my pain - I had done something to my Achilles Tendon. Solution: STOP RUNNING. I was really enjoying running and didn't want to stop. But I did. I didn't run for a week, got new running shoes for when I was ready to run again and then tried. I could walk after the first time I ran again. So - I continued to ice it. My running has been slow go again, we rest days in between to be able to walk on my foot.

We still had a goal though. We wanted to run TODAY. We registered, I was feeling great - so we started. The weather was perfect - I was excited to pace ourselves and push just a little to make good time. That was all before we knew our path.

We started out running a lap on the field. It had rained the night before and the ground was very soggy - so we were basically running in mud in some parts. Then off to the woods - because well, we live in Georgia, and there are few areas without "woods". We head done a nice hill - a trail though - I am a little leary. Running on wet pine straw, pine cones and tree roots? This isn't what I signed up for. We got down the hill and it flattened out - yeah - 1 mile already! We kept going and it opens up to a clearing - we run around the clearing (hard to run in wet, semi-long grass) So, we take a break and walk for 1 min. We start again and WATER - that felt refreshing. We keep running and - yeah - 2nd mile complete. We continue running, but this time, feeling a little tired as it's the longest I've ran with only 1 minute break walking. Then starts the up-hill climb. Naturally we knew this needed to happen sometime - but the trail narrowed and really - I would be interested to see someone run up this trail. It had a good incline.

We are hiking now - I'm about to turn the zig-zag and hear, "Molly! Wait! I'm going to throw up!" Ahh - I look behind and Jenni wasn't doing so good. I stop - she recovers and we continue on our way. It flattened out a bit so we started running, but then it got steep again. We hiked again. Then we could see the field and hear the crowd. We started running with one more lap around the grass - however, we were exhausted. We stopped and walked until the last half and ended in glory!

Here I am coming in at the finish line - Jenni sprinted a little earlier than I. Thanks to whoever yelled "Go #6"
Shawn on the side lines snapped my finish race - 43:12 I was happy, we were aiming for 38 minutes, but didn't expect the hike - so we did a great job and we had fun!
Coming off the finish line - I NEED WATER!!!
I have had such wonderful support and love for Shawn and the girls. Thanks so much!
They really came for the free food at the end. Of course - I shared my grapes with them - they were tasty after 3.1 miles.
I can't wait to run my next 5k - no more trail runs - get me on some pavement so I can actually use my training! :)



17 comments:

Kadee said...

I thought about you this morning! I'm glad it went well! :)

Sarah said...

That's awesome Molly, I think exercising with a friend is so much easier. I am not a runner either but I did finally work my way up to doing some and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

The Pratts said...

Way to go Molly!!! That is awesome! You are doing so great - I am so proud of you! We will have to talk, because Leslie and I are signing up for a sprint triathlon in November - I need a pep talk! :) Keep up the good work!

Emily S. said...

What a 5K!!! I would have died. I'll be there with you for the next one!!

Brooke said...

Yeah Molly! You are awesome!!! Keep it up, you're looking great!

Jill said...

LOL! sounds like the trail was a beast! I am glad that you did it. I hope you can walk this weekend. Looks like you had lots of fun. I don't know if I could run in the humidity...we are so dry here, that would be a challenge! Congrats!!

Unknown said...

Great job, way to hang in there! You should come train in Santa Fe... with the thin air here, you could run ANYWHERE!

Sharron said...

Good job girl! I'm very proud of you. It does feel good, doesn't it? Don't listen to Jeff and Elise, it's a trick to humble you! That thin air will kill you!

Josh and Jenna said...

I hate running. You are a champ! I'm so impressed with you!

Brandon and Jen Jensen said...

Way to go Molly!

Andee said...

That is so awesome Molly! I have never ran a 5K. So you are really amazing to go for it! You look so good too!

Pratt Fam said...

Way to go!!!

emilyring said...

Congrats Molly.

I agree running is quite hard. Running with friends or people is the best idea. That's what my sister does but Kenny likes to run alone.

Pratt Family said...

Good job Molly!!! Maybe next time you'll be able to find out what the trail/route looks like before signing up. Glad you survived!!!

Dawnell said...

You are a superhero! I am so impressed. I like to think that I would have joined your running club if I were still in Athens, but I'm still in the 1-mile club...

Ranay said...

I was just going to type "way to go" but I see it's been said. So, instead - you ROCK Sister! That's something I aspire to do also. Next year...

Joey Rachel Avery & Ansley said...

You are so awesome Molly!