5K

I have never been very good about exercising regularly.  I have lots of great, valid, wonderful excuses.  Mainly that I hate it.  However, a strange mid-thirties metabolism slow down has kicked in recently, and although my eating habits have not changed... my waistline has.  At the beginning of 2018 I decided to make some changes and try to see if I could commit to exercising three days a week and fit back into my favorite jeans.  It seemed daunting.  There's already not enough time in the week to do all the things I want to do... and there go the excuses again. 

Our church started a running group (based loosely off the Couch to 5K program) back in January, and even though I have never, ever been a runner, I decided to join the 11 week program leading up to a race this past Saturday and see how it went.  January was really tough. It was cold, rainy, and I was totally out of shape.  The first week I could only jog for short bursts of time.  However, over the past three months the camaraderie of the group, the encouragement from my husband, and the gradual realization that I was getting stronger helped me go from a couch potato to the winner of my age group on Saturday! (Full disclosure- it was a very small race, but hey, I beat that other lady.)

Now I know a 5K is not that impressive a distance to some of my readers who run marathons, but for me, it was a challenge and I'm super proud that I was able to finish the hilly course and run almost the entire thing.  The best part was passing this adorable section of cheerleaders twice on the course (shout out to the real winner of the day- Matt, for watching six kids under six while their parents ran the race).  Kate was so excited for me and I loved hearing her say she was proud of me! 

Sadly, I can't say that I really like running any better than I did when I started.  Sadly, I can't say that my pants fit any better than when I started.  However, it did feel really good to stick with it and reach my goal and to be able to say that I ran my first 5K this past weekend!