First Race; First Place!!

For my birthday this year I decided to run my first 5K. My parents recently ran one in Florida, and as my earlier blog posts suggested, I "caught the bug". I've been training hard for almost a month now. I was so nervous for the race. As Tom and I pulled up and I looked at the hundreds of other runners (it was a smaller race, but there were still in the neighborhood of 300 runners), I actually said out loud, "What have I gotten myself into?"
I was so intimidated by their long, skinny legs and lengthy bodies. They all looked like bred runners to me! I literally felt sick, and arrogant for ever thinking I could compete with real runners. I wasn't much of a runner in high school or middle school, and those gym class horrors came back into my mind real quick.
Anyway, I took a deep breath and reminded myself that I'm not here to win, I'm just here to run. To finish the race.
It turns out, I exceeded my own expectations! I finished the race in 25:37, which put me in first place for the women age group 20-24, and 22nd overall! I was very happy with my time, and with the race in general. It felt so great! I even got a little medal that said first place. I can't wait to run another one!
As my husband and father both pointed out, though, I may want to wait until the baby is born. Training that hard while pregnant is tough, and will only get tougher. I will definatly keep running as long as my little zygote will let me, though.

What a great birthday! Thank you to everyone who came to the race to support me! Me after the race, sporting my 5k shirt and medal
Just got my award and some flowers Tom had for me at the finish line.

Just crossed the finish line; Tom was waiting there with flowers!

I'm just behind the tree in blue and red

Standing at the "Start" line, waiting nervously