5K

Saturday Charles, his brother Jeremiah and his wife Monica, and I ran a 5K in San Dimas. This was my 3rd 5K. The first was in Sept. 2003 a month after I returned from my mission. The 2nd was with Charles and Azure in March 2008.Running is so much more mental than physical. Last week I did a zumba class at 24 hr fitness. It was beyond awesome! I am not a fan of cheesy aerobics which I thought zumba was. Turns out zumba is a Latin dance class for an hour straight. Why did no one tell me?! A vital part of my soul is composed of salsa with a tad bit of merengue. My hips can not help but sway whenever I hear those sweet rhythms.

I thought the class was 30 mins. At the 30 min mark I realized it wasn't over. The song ended and I thought, "I'm getting tired. I'm not sure I can keep dancing for 30 more mins." As soon as I said that to myself another song started and my body just started moving again. As long as those songs were playing, my body would move and I would tap into some reserve energy. I started making some mental connections about endurance and physical strength and childbirth and positive affirmations.

I realized after an hour of intense cardio workout that the upcoming 5K would be relatively easy. It would probably take me about 30 mins to run it and I just did double that with really no problem.

I remembered laboring for almost 48 hrs with Vince thinking how exhausted I was, but once he finally turned (from posterior to anterior) I tapped into some reserve energy which gave me 3 more hours of strength to push him out.

After these thoughts and experiences I went into the 5K knowing that I could do it even though I had only been running about 1-1.5 miles 2x a week for the past 6 wks or so. That realization alone was worth 2 wks or more of training for me! While I was running up hills during the race a small thought of "this is hard" would creep in and I could combat it with "yeah, but, I could do this for an hr. Remember the zumba class? Only 15 mins have gone by."

Running with family members/friends is really motivating too. As we passed each other on the course (there was a part when you turned around and went back the way you came) we called each other by name and said, "Good job, keep going" etc. That was so motivating!

Since running track in high school I learned that you pick up the pace on the last 100 meters and you sprint the last straightaway. After the mile 2 mark I tried to pick up my pace but, there were still lots of hills and I felt like I only had enough strength to keep my current pace and not stop. At this point some people had already finished running and were walking back to find family/friends to encourage them to keep going.

Even though I didn't spot Charlie among them, I knew the end was near. I thought about how essential it is to cheer each other on. We are all running in the race of life. In my mind's eye I saw that those on the sidelines were like our ancestors that have gone before and our unborn posterity. They are cheering us on. I felt of their strength. I started tearing up a bit and realized I had never felt the spirit so strongly when running b/c I honestly don't enjoy running THAT much.

I should note too that I forgot earphones for the iPod so I had to strap it to my arm and turn the volume up. Sometime just before mile 2 the shuffle got turned on and would play a song for about 5 seconds before going to the next b/c of me bouncing around so much. To be honest I was pretty frustrated about it, but looking back I realized that when I was trying to get it to work, I was distracted running up a couple hills and so I didn't have the thought that I wanted to stop. So, it not working turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

I finally saw Charles and Miah at the finish line and I was able to sprint until I crossed it. Unfortunately I didn't get my time b/c the chip fell off my shoe and I thought holding it in my hand would still get me my time, but the sensor was at our feet. I didn't even see the time as I crossed the finish line so all I have to go off of is that Charles said it was 33 mins.

My goal was to get under 30 mins but, those hills really slowed me down. Especially b/c I didn't train on hills. I really couldn't in Savannah, since there are none. All in all a wonderful experience. In Feb Charles will be running a half marathon on Tybee and I will do another 5K with the kids in the double jogging stroller. I'm looking forward to it!!!

Jeremiah won 1st place in his age group!