Saturday, April 20, 2013

a Double-Decker April Saturday


Today was the day-- the day I have been working toward for six months.  Today I ran my 1st 5K. 

With 2/3 of my cheering section
(Brian was taking the photo and my 3 littlest stayed at home in the warmth with my sister)

This was quite momentous for me because when I decided to start running 6 months ago, I couldn't run for 60 seconds before I was out of breath.


My goal for today was 2-fold.  I wanted to run the entire 3.1 miles without stopping to walk and I wanted to complete the course in 31 minutes (a 10 minute per mile pace). 

The halfway point-- still smiling!
Having never run in a large race before, I didn't account for the congestion at the beginning of the race.  With over 200 racers, after the shout of GO!, it was 10-15 seconds before I moved at all and 3-4 minutes before I could begin to run at my pace. Once I got going, though, running with other people was far more exhilarating than running alone. 

Approaching the finish line-- the smile was fading and I was tired!

I completed the race with a time of 31 minutes, 16 seconds and I did not start walking until after I crossed the finish line.  Having always been an indoor girl who would rather read a book than do any sort of exercise, I am surprising myself by saying that I've already started to look for another race in an attempt to better my time. 

So we could call it a day, right? 

Well, no, we were home by lunchtime and ready to move on to the next event on this special Saturday.  In the late afternoon, Brian's sister and her family came over for an early dinner and a night of games. 



The adults enjoyed a round of Dutch Blitz, our standard game every time we get together. Then we laughed our way through several rounds of Apples to Apples.  The kids played a highly competitive version of  Disney Scene It where the boys' team won twice in a row, much to the girls' dismay!   




How did you spend your Saturday?





4 comments:

  1. As I am taking ibuprofen every 4 hours after painting the kitchen this week, I am in awe of you...running a 5K and then having company for dinner. I am tired and achy just thinking about it.

    I am proud of you! ♥

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  2. How exciting to meet your goal of running the whole distance!I was thinking about you on Saturday morning. Did the rain hold off?

    I definitely commiserate with you about not being able to run 60 seconds without getting out of breath. I snuck in a tiny run during one of my morning walks this week and was completely out of breath by the time I reached my goal distance of about 3 blocks :(

    Also, maybe you and Brian can teach Tim & me how to play Dutch Blitz. We recently got the game, but have never played. As with most games it seems like it would be so much easier to learn how to play by playing instead of just reading the instructions :)

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  3. Dutch Blitz! I love it...I have been playing since I was little. I am from Indiana, but no one down here in Texas knows about it.

    Saturday - T-ball game and family in town visiting!

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  4. YAY!!! Congrats on the race! That is so awesome!

    I spent most of Saturday coordinating childcare at my church's "mother church" as they celebrated their 50th anniversary. A different kind of exhausting for sure!

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