I came, I ran, I WON!

That’s right! I WON my first race (well, I won the female division of a 80-person race, but I don’t like to minimize accomplishments, so WHATEVER!). 

I felt sooo horrible last night (killer headache), and I wasn’t sure I would be up to racing today.  I decided I wasn’t going to waste my $25 entry fee, but I did drop down from the 10K to the 5K.  And I’m SO GLAD I did!

My final time was 23 minutes and 42 seconds.  That’s about a 7:35-minute mile!

Back to the beginning…

I woke up at 6:15 and cautiously opened my eyes.  Only a minor headache remained!  I called both Meghann and Lindsay to tell them I was, in fact, coming to the race.  Then, I inhaled breakfast and dashed out the door.

I had banana oatmeal with brown sugar and sliced almonds.  And a coffee, of course!

Sorry for the tupperware! The dishes were all dirty. 🙂

I got to the race around 7:30.  It was a small event — around 80 people.  It was very easy to find Lindsay and Meghann.

We kind of all matched. 🙂

I was SO relieved they let me drop down from the 10K to the 5K.  Standing around and talking, I felt fine.  But I knew that I wasn’t feeling up to par and that running 6.2 miles was out of the question. 

When the air horn went off for the 5K race, I SPRINTED forward.  Immediately, I felt HORRENDOUS…. very weak, very nauseous, and very, very tired.  I paced with Meghann for the first 0.5 mile, and then she pulled about 15 feet ahead for me for the next 1.0 mile. 

Waves of nausea kept coming over me — I really debated stopping to puke a few times.  Yet, I reasoned with myself — it was a short race, and the torture could either last 30 minutes or 25 minutes. I decided to ignore the physical pain as much as I could and just GET IT OVER WITH!

The turn around point required a long climb up a hill, and when we turned the corner, I finally gained on Meghann.  I LOVE MEGHANN! She is so competitive and it just makes everything so much more fun.

By 2.0 miles, I was literally SCREAMING and GRUNTING out loud to maintain my pace.  Letting it out verbally helps me so much.  This one guy overheard me and said, "Don’t stress about it! You’re the lead woman!"  And that’s when I realized… OMG! I AM THE LEAD WOMAN!

That last 0.1 mile was torture. My stomach was screaming, my lungs were bursting, my head was on fire…. but I kept my pace.  Out of the corner of my eye, I could see a girl starting to gain on me…. and I thought NAH UH! NO WAY!  We broke into a sprint towards the finish line and I JUST squeeze past her! 

Look at the final times (mine is first and random girl is second…. she was only .5 seconds behind me!):

I was very surprised to see my final time of 23 minutes and 42 seconds.   Speedwork is TRULY making me faster — I have never broke 8-minute mile outside before!

In the end, Lindsay and Meghann won awards, too!

Lindsay placed in her age division and Meghann placed THIRD overall! Way to go, girls!  Lovely plaques, too!

After the race, I grabbed a Christmas sugar cookie…

And then we all went to First Watch for breakfast.  Its a very yummy and healthy breakfast diner.  I had a coffee…

And Floridian French Toast (which is sourdough bread with banana, strawberries, and wheat germ. Yum!).

Now, I’m resting on the couch…. To be honest, I’ve felt better!  I’m very proud of my 5K time, and I definitely think I’ll run another one when I’m feeling better to see if I can improve!

Have a WONDERFUL Sunday!