My First 5K!

The day I had been looking forward to for months had finally arrived! I woke up, took the girls to daycare,  had my green monster and went shopping! I had a Fage yogurt with honey and met up with Mom. We went to the starting point and I registered (and got my t-shirt). I had lots of emotions running through me. It probably sounds strange, but I felt extremely emotional! Honestly, I felt like I was going to start crying at any minute.I think it was because I had been looking forward to this for so long...I never in a million years thought that I would ever want to do a 5K! And here I was, actually looking forward to it! There were a lot of participants-I would guess around 100 (of course, I'm probably way off!)

Here is a picture of Cheryl (one of my WW buddies, me & Kelly):

Aaron did some stretching with a few of us. Mom took pictures!

After the race, Mom said "wow...that Aaron is bendy. I took some pictures of him". She was definitely very impressed. 

 Aaron & Christine: These are for you! I apologize for my mother's indiscretions...ha ha.

Then it was time to get the show on the road! Ready, Set, and we're OFF!

I had wanted to jog the entire 5K, but since I had lost 2 plus weeks of training, I figured that wouldn't happen, but I would do what I could. I had also said originally that if I could finish it in 40 minutes I would be happy. Well, since losing that training time, I figured I would be closer to 50 minutes. I started out jogging and when I hit 1.5 miles, I looked down and saw that my heartrate was at 203. That's when I decided to slow it down a bit. So, I did a brisk walk for about a quarter of a mile, then stepped it up again. When I hit the halfway mark (time was 11.29), the excitement started settling in! Then, on the way back as I was jogging past people and hearing them cheering me on, I got a feeling of euphoria! I have totally discovered that I'm all about the glitz & glamour-ha ha! If I had been on a leisurely run, I would have been thinking "is it over yet?", but passing people and seeing them cheering me on and knowing that Anand & Mom were waiting for me at the end really gave me that push! I slowed down a bit to reserve energy for the end! I knew that I wanted to come back in RUNNING! When I got to the last quarter mile or so, I thought to myself "well, if I pass out at this point at least I will have made it to the end!" and I started running. I saw the crowd waiting at the finish line and was seriously so excited I could feel tears in my eyes! And here are a few photos of me hitting the finish line:

Becky gave me a "5K: I Did It" pin and I ran over to Anand & Mom.

Here are Kelly & I saying "WOO HOO WE DID IT"!

And here are me & Mom:

Me & Anand:

And here is a picture of Lois (with her paper clip tiara), me (looks like I'm pregnant-very flattering) & Becky (adorable as ever!):

Oh, and I almost forgot! I came in either 5th or 6th (they weren't really tracking it, but Anand & Mom told me) and my time was 42 minutes!!!! Considering I had lost the 2 weeks, I was MORE THAN HAPPY with that! Now, I can't wait for my next one to beat that time!