First "Competitive" 5k!

I ran another 5k today!  I feel like getting up early to run these things is almost as exhausting as running them.  It was the One Sole Purpose I talked about in my last post.  I thought when I signed up for this thing that it was going to be fun and sunny.  I think when we started it was around 32 degrees!  It was spitting some sort of frozen stuff at one point.  Now I've run in the cold before.  I actually started running in December.  Don't ask me why.  It wasn't my smartest decision.  Anywho, I've run in the cold but this was ridiculous!  The one thing I was grateful for was that there wasn't very much wind.  And the hills!  If you'll recall, I noticed in the flyer that it said it was a "challenging course".  I have hills in my neighborhood.  At leaast I thought I did.  Turns out they're not hills, more like the opposite of a pothole.  Just a little bump in the road compared to the behemoths on this course.  And you could see them a long ways off.  At one point I just closed my eyes and hoped I didn't run off the road because I didn't want to see what was about to kill me. 

It's only a 5k.  It's really not that bad.  I can see that now but when you're in it and you're lungs are going to explode and the footsteps behind you are most certainly those of the Grim Reaper, finishing makes you feel invincible.  Like you could just walk up to any jerk that teased you in high school and finally deliver that zinger you came up with years later.  And then run like hell and actually outrun them! 

It's all in my head anyway.  It started the night before with me wondering if they would even have the race.  Maybe they'll call it off.  It's obviously too cold to run.  Then I think about all the motivational quotes on Pinterest and I realize I have become part of a group that runs during monsoon season (I bet).  Realizing I'm not going to get out of it, I start to hope that maybe everyone will stay home and I can cross the finish line in a blaze of glory, only to realize I came in third out of three.  That fantasy wasn't very appealing.  So I set my goals.  I will not quit.  I will not walk.  Even if people speed walk past me, I will continue what I call running.  I will not cry.

And so I finished.  I finished with a time of 30:31, 76th overall and 7th in my age group.  I'd love to know how many people were in the race but I achieved all of my goals so that doesn't really matter.  And I did it while I was freezing!  Once again proving myself wrong and marking another "I can't" off my too long list.  

It has been an awesome exhausting day.  A 5k, lunch with my sister, a haircut, a baby shower, and now, I leave you with a verse I wrote to get myself back out there. 

I will run in the rain
I will run in the sun
I will run when running
Doesn't seem that much fun

I will run for my heart
I will run for my fam
I will run the love of
Green eggs and ham

I will run when it hurts
I will run when it heals
I will run just to move
And how great it feels

(This is for today!)
So run if you can
Run if you will
Especially when life
Throws you a wicked hill!