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"I run therefore I am"
I've done enough 5K's now to know that they are no big deal. There's no surgery required, no bomb wiring necessary, no landing of a 747 jet. So I know that I can relax and just enjoy the atmosphere before a run.
But still, at the line up, it the same experience...
My heart starts pounding, my breathing gets more shallow...I feel like I am drowning with excitement. I am about to run another race.
I think no matter what you do or many many races you've done, this is the same for everyone. It's a race...there is no way not to get excited.
This race was benefiting the Bethpage community. And who of all people organized this race? Tara Costa. from the Biggest Loser. (There she is below, in her green team t-shirt. I was glad to see that so far she has been able to keep the weight off.)
Before the main race, there was a kids fun run I have to say that this is the cutest thing I have seen with kids. They poured their heart out into running the less that 1/2 mile race and in the end, all of them received medals. How cool is that?
As for me, I was so happy I brought my MP3 player this time around. I left on Matchbox Twenty's Let's See How Far We've Come on repeat and ran in pace with the song. This helped me so much. When the horn went off, I didn't try to race anyone else, or try to get off fast. All I did was get into my safe endurance pace and stick with it.
The flat, closed course went through the residential streets of Bethpage, passing beautiful home and residents waving and clapping. When I started to struggle (it's a morning run and I don't do those very well) I just kept telling myself that I can do this (I had just run 3 miles on Thursday with no problem). And at the moment I started to tell myself to give up, I just looked at the double yellow line in the street and kept going. I was not going to stop. There would be no walking this time. I was going to run the entire course damn it!
Then suddenly, a man on a bike yelled out "Only a quarter mile to go"...this got me energized. I wanted to finish the race in a time under 38 minutes. That's all I wanted to do. But when I turned onto the last .1 mile, I got a glimpse of the race clock.
"WHAT!"
I pushed myself. I couldn't believe what the clock was saying to me.
As I crossed the finish line I put my hands up in victory as Gary took my picture from the sidelines.
35:39
A new personal record! I still cannot believe it! Even with my morning itis I was still able to finish the race in record time. WooFuckinHoo!!!
284 out of 418 finishers, 136 out of 253 women, 19 out of 25 in my division.
There are 5 weeks until my next until the next 5K race. I've decided that my goal is to finish this next race in under 34 minutes. That's only 1:40 off my current record and I think it's totally achievable. I just have to stay consistent. And I will!
