My First Race

WooHoo! I did it! And boy was it fun! To some, running for a long distance, for a long period of time, seems tedious and unappealing. To others, they enjoy the challenge; both mental and physical, that comes along with running. I am in between the two.

While in Italy, I really began to enjoy running. When Brock went to the gym to train for football, I would park my sneakers on a tread mill and just run. When I first began, I would run a lap, walk a lap. That became easy, so I would begin running 2 laps, then 3, until I realized I didn’t need to walk at all. My time on the tread mill at first was boring. “Holy cow!” I would think. “Brock has been lifting for almost an hour and I am still on this thing.” But then, when I would look at my distance, then my time, I began to get motivated to decrease my time, and it slowly became an internal challenge.

Once Brock realized my interest, he started to run with me. We would run at the park and to different places around the city of Milan. We would run at the gym and he would push me to kick it up a notch to improve my time. I liked running because I did not have to compete with anyone; only myself. I also liked the benefits of running; the cardio, my conditioning, and my legs and butt looked like I did a squat work out, and you really don’t need any equipment…just your running shoes (and an iPod if you get bored!).

When we moved back to the States, I really wanted to keep up with my leisure running. But with Brock, he always takes fitness to the next level, even with me. So I entered us (yes Brock too) in the Firecracker 5k race that is held every year in Naples, Florida. He wanted me to experience “training” for a race, to push myself to build up my endurance, and to improve my time. A 5k (about 3.2 miles) is a short distance for me, compared to what I was running in Italy.

As we pulled up to the race site this morning, the energy was apparent even from the car. Everyone was ready to just…run. The concept sounds silly when you say it, but when you’re there you want to just take off! I did well for my first race. I am not a fast runner but once I get going, I can go forever. My goal was to run the entire race without stopping. And I did. And as I approached the finish line sprinting, I got an overwhelming feeling of pride as I saw Brock and the other runners who had finished before, standing and cheering me on.

This 5k, in the big scheme of things, was just a little goal. Something I wanted to try, something I had never done before, and it was something I wanted to prove to myself I could do.


P.S A new goal I have is to improve on my speed walking for when I enter my “elder years” so I can speed walk faster than the young runners! It really impressed me. It also motivated me to kick up a few notches to pass the speed walkers! No way, no how was the older pep stepper going to pass me!