Goal Met!

As you may recall, in January I popped off that not only would I run a 5K but I would run 5 5Ks.  Well, friends, I actually did it!  And it spectacular fashion, I might add.

I started with the Mardi Gras Run.  Then we did the Dash Down Greenville.  I didn't blog about that one but it was not great.  I ran the entire time but there were 5000 people in the race.  Way too many for me.  And it was the first time my otherwise fabulous husband ran with me. 

I say otherwise fabulous because he is wonderful and encouraging and all that.  But he does train at all and blows me out of the water at these races.  That's what he did at the Dash Down Greenville.

My third race was the Heart of Heath.  I ran this one with my fabulous sister in law Laura.  She's amazing.  She stays with me and pushes me.  I didn't get into a good breathing rhythm but I pressed on.  And again, Ryan ran too.  Took off and beat me.  I'm really trying to not be bitter...

My fourth and fifth races were this past weekend.  On Saturday we did the Raider Country Run that benefits the booster club at the school where I teach and my boys attend.  Laura did the 1 mile fun run with all our boys since she had half marathon on Sunday.  Ryan  and I did the 5K.   He stayed with me for the most part.  I had trouble getting into a breathing rhythm again so I struggled.  It was fun though because my students were running too.  Towards the end I told him to go ahead (which I always too but I always get miffed that he does.  I know, that makes it my issue and not his).  But then I caught up with him and we finished together.  I found out later that afternoon that I got 2nd in my age group!  We left before the awards.  One, because I didn't know there were awards.  Two, because my kids were going nuts.  And three, because I never dreamed I'd win a medal.

My fifth race was an 'adventure' run.  The Warrior Dash.  It was so much fun.  We ran through mud, slide down a muddy hill, climbed over stuff, jumped over fire and crawled through mud/under barbed wire at the end.  Ryan did a great job of staying with me.  Given my bad ankles (and the fact that I twisted it the weekend before), I was very cautious in the mud.  So, I slowed us up - a lot!  But he was great.  Even when I had a panic attack in the lake.  We were going over logs and I went over one and couldn't touch the bottom of the lake.  He reached out for me and I screamed "Stop pushing me!".   My real goal for the Warrior Dash was to finish uninjured, without crying and without help.  Ryan helped me over one of the logs post-panic but I think I did great.  Ryan was not thrilled with our time and ranking but I thought we rocked. 

So there you have it!  I'm going to start the Couch to 10K program next week.  But I'm going to keep running 5Ks. I don't want to tackle a 10K until I can finish a 5K without feeling that death is eminent.  But next year, I AM DOING A 10K. 

What goal are you working on?