my random 5k

I have said it before, and I'll say it again.  I am not an exercise lover (yet...there is hope!) I especially hate the sweating part.  

On Sunday one of my friends asked me to walk a 5k with her and her other friend.  The money being raised was to help out a local school, and it was Weight Watcher's WalkIt Challenge day.  One of my weight watchers leaders (im a bit of a nomad) is actually Susan, featured in the ww weekly.  She and her friend Roxanne have started the Pavement Pounders, and they have been featured in the past few weeklies.  Feeling like they were slightly famous, it helped egg me on to doing this 5k, even though it was an hour away.

We arrived to the school, painted a terrible mint color, and I hoped that some of the money we raised would go towards a decent paint job.  

My friends and I signed in, paid $20, and got in line.  I had my ipod in hand, and started to notice the weather.  It was perfect, perfect for not sweating!  It was mid fifties, overcast, and had a touch of delightful wind.  As soon as the starting sound went off, my legs wanted to go, and I told my friend that I was going to run it.

Me...run...a 5k...without practicing or even walking 5k recently. I don't know what happened, but my ipod was playing the free Girl Talk album, and I was a runner.  My first mile was 10:02, and then the hills hit.  I was blessed with long legs, so my walk/jog helped keep me at a good pace.  

Then the kids started coming.  Nothing rubs me like kids a third of my age kicking my butt in something physical.  When I climbed Mt. Washington, I honestly thought I might have to make a camp out of trees and leaves and spend the night due to exhaustion...and yet kids ages 5 and up were scaling that mountain as if it was flat terrain.  These kids at the 5K were laughing and chatting as they ran.  So I made it my goal to keep up with them, or at least keep them in my sight.  Those little blonde pigtails pushed me over hills, through cramps, and helped me complete my first non-walking 5k in 36 minutes.  

I never would have imagined that I could do that, and was so surprised by myself.  

....and now I've signed up for a 5k in June :)