Run for your life

And I totally did.

Friday night I could not sleep. I was afraid that I would oversleep and then Gabby would be waiting for me at the meeting place and I would not show up. And after I paid $20 to run in the Provo City 5k, I was not about to be late.

So, I woke up at about 5:40 Saturday morning, got myself ready and ate some fruit. We met at the appointed time and headed over to the race area.

The race started at 8:30 so we had a lot of time. The website said that it would start at 8:15 (which kind of made me angry when it did not). Anyway, just after 8:30 the cannon fired and off we went. Gabby and I set a comfortable pace. For some crazy reason I run faster than her outside. Inside, I cannot keep up with her, but outside I have to hold back to run with her.

So we completed the first mile easily. We seemed to be right about the middle area of the runners. I was feeling good. I wasn't breathing too heavily. The second mile, they decided it would be funny to throw a hill in the run. Now I understand that a little challenge is good, but man. So we start up the hill and I notice I'm pulling ahead of Gabby. It was at that point I realized, I had to speed up to make it up the hill or I would end up walking. I quickly burst the rest of the way up the hill and slowed myself down to wait for Gabby to catch up.

She didn't. We had completed the second mile and I was waiting for her to come along, but she did not. I knew that I had less than a mile to go, so I decided to just break off. I ran from that point at my pace. The race ended with a lap around three sides of Tabernacle Park in Provo. When I was on the second side, I challenged myself to pick up the pace and see how many people I could pass. When I came in the finish line, I looked at the clock, but it did not occur to me to look at the clock.

I walked around and tried to get the feeling back into my legs. They felt like Jell-O for a while. Then what seemed like no time at all, Gabby came through the finish line. She actually looked at the clock and said she had made it in thirty minutes. I was shocked.

Never in my life have I been able to run less than a ten minute mile. Even when we were in elementary school, I was not fast. When we were able to see our times a while later I was shocked. I ran the 5k in 29 minutes and 5 seconds. To see our results, click here: http://www.run13.com and go to the results section.

I am exceedingly proud of myself. I am also very excited for the Salt Lake City 5k that we will be participating in on April 19th. I am hoping to be able to beat my time of this weekend. Until then, I am sure I will keep training and hoping for the best.