The 5K

The runners: Phoenix, Shona, Mary, Brian, and Audie.
The cheerleader: Griffin.

Well, the day finally arrived, after one postponement due to a hurt knee, I finally ran the 5K I had set for a goal this year. It's been 9 years since I ran an organized race so I was a bit nervous. After all I am carrying scores more pounds than I was back then, and although I was not nervous about running in general, I was more worried about my pride. I just did not want to be last. Phoenix decided she was going to run the 1 mile run in conjunction with my 5k.

We woke up at 4:45 AM so we could get to Downtown Atlanta by 6:30. We had plans to meet my workout partner Audie and her friends Brian and Mary. Now those of you who know me well know I am never on time, so I had a very restless night worried I would oversleep, but I did good. When I woke Griffin up, he promptly went to his window and yelled out to me "But Mommy its still dark and I am still sleepy". Phoenix woke up ready and rearing, she slept in the clothes (all pink of course) she planned on running in so she just had to roll out of bed and put on her shoes.

We met Audie and Brian and Mary and waited for the race to start. The race organizers actually had a gym represented there and one of their aerobic instructors warmed us up, which was very cool. We lined up at the starting line and the gun popped and off we went. Now, I do all my training on a treadmill because I either work out in the morning before work at the gym, or more often then not during lunch. Now, let me tell you its much easier running on a treadmill, knowing your pace, having the fans blowing on you, etc, etc. I had a hard time finding a good pace. I did have a goal to run the entire 3.2 miles under a 15 minute average mile (mind you I run walk intervals right now). At every mile they had people with stop watches sitting there yelling out the times. At mile one I was a 14 minutes, at mile 2 I was at 29:44 minutes and at the end of the race I was at 46 minutes, which comes to a 14:37 minute mile, so I beat my goal and set a personal best, and I was not last (thank God). So that is out of the way. Now Audies bright idea is to run a half marathon in November, we started the training program two weeks ago.


Shona approaching the finish line.


Audie approaching the finish line.

Phoneix's fun run started after our race. I was worried about her getting upset if she did not "win" or if she had to walk a little bit. Let me tell you, nothing phases that little girl, she is not afraid of any challenge. She started really fast and got a pretty bad side stitch but she worked through it by walking a little bit. She finished strong too. She was so proud of herself, as were me and Chris. She told us all that she thought the 1 mile was too easy so she wants to run 3 miles with us next time.


The one mile fun run starting line.


For some reason she thinks she is in a fashions show for every picture.


Starting the race.


Finishing the race.


Finishing the race.


Shona, Audie and Phoenix.