The Frosty 5K

I set a goal in October to run this Frosty 5K that our city puts on every year, and to run it really fast. I wasn't sure how fast I wanted to run it, but I knew I could do pretty well. I used to be a good runner--back in high school, when I did cross country, and in college, when I ran two half-marathons and did them well. But I haven't run much since getting pregnant with Graham, and I kind of thought my running days were over with sore knees. But I thought, maybe I can do shorter distances and do them better. 

So I followed a training schedule and was really serious about it, and I set the goal to run it below 24 minutes. That was really a stretch for me--my last 5K that I did in April was 29 minutes (without doing any running as training at all). But I worked hard at it and I knew I could do it. And in the end, I ran it in 23:41, a 7:39 mile pace! That was as fast as I ever ran any race in cross country in high school. I was really surprised I could do that still, and I feel like I recovered some part of my identity that I've lost since having kids. I have still been a serious exerciser, but now I am a runner again too. I don't want to ever do a half-marathon again (although maybe I'll change my mind someday), but I was so happy to realize I can do shorter races and have fun while doing them.

I had this vision of getting all my friends to run this 5K with me, but my friend Candice was the only one who wanted to. We didn't really train together or run together during the race, but it was fun to work on it together.

It was so funny. At the very end of the race, this guy came up behind me and started to pass me (because I never do very well at the end--I always slow down instead of speeding up). And the guy looked at me and motioned for me to race him to the end. So we raced and I ended up beating him. Then we high fived and got drinks and whatnot, and my friend came up to me from the side and said, "You just beat the mayor!" Turned out the guy I was racing against was the mayor, and I beat him! And then the city had taken this picture of me right before the finish, with the mayor behind me, and posted it all over all of their social media outlets. I was waving to the kids who were waiting and cheering for me, but it looks like I was really excited to be done with the race or something, haha. I had about five people text me and say I was famous!

Look at this cute poster Dane made. They were a cute cheering section. 

I felt so proud of myself! It was a great day.