Race for the Cure

If you would have talked to me over the summer, I would have told you that I have no desire whatsoever to run a 5K. I probably hadn't run since 9th grade when I played basketball. That's not to say I haven't worked out. We used to have a treadmill and I loved walking on it, I love taking the pups on walks, and recently we got an elliptical and I could go forever on that thing. But running is a totally different ball game!  

After we got Whiskey and he grew up a bit I would take him on walks and I could tell he was a little bored. Trevor was in the process of training him to heel, so he would stay right beside me the whole time. So I started to run a little with him...and by that I mean, I would run one block and then maybe a few blocks later I would run another block...nothing to brag about. Haha! 

From there, Trevor and I kind of started talking about running and we started the Couch to 5K app. After a few weeks that phase kind of fizzled out. Then, Trevor's work sent out a sign up for the Susan G. Komen - Race for the Cure 5K. Since we started running but quit since we didn't have a goal in mind, this was now our goal. 

So we signed up and started getting in shape. To be honest, we are terrible accountability partners when it comes to running. If one of us didn't feel like running one evening, the other one had no problem with it. But we made it work. We used the C25K app for awhile and then we got tired of using it and we just started running a specific distance and we made it longer and longer each time. 

We definitely had some funny moments when training...on a few different occasions I was attacked by a frog, once a little Yorkie started chasing me, and the worst was when a bug flew in my eye the first 5 min of running and I could barely see the whole run. 

I was actually pretty nervous the night before the run. I know I'm not a great runner but I wanted to finish in a time that I would be proud of. We didn't do much Friday night since it was going to be an early morning. We got our shirts ready, stretched a little, and just relaxed. 

The morning of the race we got up about 5:30 and ate a bagel and peanut butter (we read that that is a good thing to eat the morning of a run) and then stretched and got ready to head downtown. 

Ready to go!! We had "Martha's Mob" on the back of our shirts for a woman that Trevor works with and we wrote "P.A." on the front for Trevor's grandma who is a breast cancer survivor. 

When we got downtown we walked around a bit and then we headed to the start line. The night before Trevor and I made a playlist for good running songs, so we got that ready to play and started the "Map My Run" app. A friend told me about that and I loved it because at every mile it tells you your average speed. I like knowing how far I have gone, so that was really helpful in keeping me motivated throughout the run and it helped me maintain an okay speed. When the starting guns fired, I had some butterfly's in my stomach! Haha! It was honestly really exciting to be running with so many people and for such a great cause. I loved reading everyone's shirts as I was running...they were definitely a great motivation to keep running. I accomplished 2 of my goals for this run...I never stopped running and I FINISHED! So I was so happy at the end!

Here are a couple action photos: 

Trevor did awesome and made it in 30:24.

I was a bit slower and made it in 36:22. 

All nice and sweaty at the end!!

I was so proud of both of us at the end. I know it's only a 5K and people run WAY more than that, but it was definitely something I never thought I'd do. 

If you think you are a bad runner, I just want to encourage you to try! You might just surprise yourself!