My First Race

For a year now, I've been trying to exercise more.  Starting last spring, I started walking with a friend in the evenings.  It started as 2 miles, then went to 3, and then went to 4.  I continued walking 4 miles a day with my friend, Monica, but it got too cold when fall came.  I found another friend, Jennifer, to walk with, but we never did more than 3 miles, and it really started getting cold.  I decided at the new year, I would buy a membership to the local rec center.

Since the first week in January, I've been going to the gym 3-5 times a week and doing 4-6 miles on the elliptical.  The depressing thing is that last year I lost 12 lbs from walking, and since I've kicked my workouts into high gear, I've lost nothing.  I've decided to use races as a distraction from my lack of weight loss.  I work our 3 days a week with a friend of mine named Tara.  It's so great to know I have someone counting on me to be there - pushes me to go on those days I don't really feel like it.  A while ago, she signed up for a 5K that was to be on March 31.  I felt there was no way I could run a 5K by March 31, and kept thinking, "I'll catch the next one."

I decided on a whim, to take the plunge and just do it.  I figured, even if I can't run the whole thing, it would give me something to work towards.  In a three week period, I was able to push myself to run the entire thing.  I think that's the longest I've ever run in my whole life!  I've been extremely proud of my progress.


I was able to run the race with 3 friends: Tara, Rachel, and Sam.  It was funny because each of us came in 2 minutes apart from one another.  Rachel finished in 32 minutes, Tara in 30, me in 32, and Sam in 34.  I came in 70th overall, and 17th for my age group of 31-34.  I really pushed myself and 32 minutes is the fastest I've ever run it.  I was feeling so good I signed up for another race on April 21st.

I'm hoping that I can keep with it.  Even though I'm not losing weight despite my efforts, I know that my body is getting healthier and having the races as my goals really helps me keep going.  I'd like to run a half marathon by the fall, but we'll have to see what my body tells me I can do.