A Color(ful) Run

 

The 5K Crew (minus Leigh Anne)

When the 5k Crew started back on September 1st, we weren't sure when we'd run our first 5k together, but wanted to look around and find something fun. We all agreed that the "official" Color Run was too far for all of us (it was taking place about 1.5 hours from here), but we were delighted to find a local Color Run here in Suwanee. We all signed up and started preparing for our 1st 5k together.

When I got up Saturday morning, it was not only cold, but raining. YAY!! I got in the shower and put extra conditioner in my hair (as suggested by another Color Runner's blog) so that it'd be easier to get any color out after. We left here at 6:55 and arrived at Peachtree Ridge High School at 7:15.

I met Ann and Lesley in the parking lot and then we connected with Stacey and her family. We all walked to the field together and checked in.

We stood there for about 45 minutes and tried to figure our what the plan was. There had not been ay route posted online, and we were praying that we wouldn't be running the whole thing on the track. It was the 1st time that PRHS was hosting this, and of course, there were snafus to be expected.

Jo and Jackie arrived and the group was all there. We took a few "before" shots and then it was time for the warm up exercises.

They had us walk to the track and immediately people were wondering what was going on. To say it was unorganized is an understatement. We were all just standing on the track waiting for directions.

 
All of a sudden, someone comes on the speaker and tells us that we're going to run two laps and then start the route. Instantly, people started running. This goes against how I've been training. I'm used to walking for 5 to warm up and then run. I'm on week 6 day 3 of C25K and I was going to use Saturday as another training day.

As people started to run and pass us, I said I wanted to do my 5 minute warm up. We got around the track and then about to head onto the course and Ann and I had to use the bathroom (BAD timing). We hurried into the porta potties and then quickly tried to get caught up, but by that point, we were waaaaaaaaay behind the crowd.

There were some areas that were uphill and it made it more tiring to complete... but I did it. As we continued through the course, I kept thinking, "WHERE'S THE COLOR?!?!?"

When we got to the first color station, it had started to rain.

I was tired at the first mile. I told Lesley, "Maybe I'm not cut out for 5ks..." I just wanted to stop, but I knew we had to keep going. My knee had been hurting a few days before the race, and it was really throbbing as I was running. We ended up walking a lot.

We made it around the course one time and I saw my dad, Steve, and Gus and then Lesley saw Jason and Logan. It was hard to know that we still had so far to go, but it was a great feeling to know that we were over 1/2 way done.

In fact, they had us run the track for a 1/2 mile for nothing. When the whole thing was over, instead of being 3.1 miles, it was 3.44. The lap around the track could have been eliminated.

Anyway... they had a lot of water stations which was nice, and it was fun to go through the color stations. Being hit with color while running was more enjoyable than I had expected. It was fun to see everyone else running with their bodies covered in various colors.

 They gave everyone sunglasses... good thing! They helped protect the eyes from the color!

My dad captured the color explosion at the finish line!!

Jo, Jackie, and Stacey

Coming out of the first lap

I can't say enough about Lesley. She stuck by me through the entire thing and every time I was discouraged or complaining, she helped get me refocused and positive. She totally could have left me in the dust, but she didn't. :-)

We met back up with Ann and she ran the last lap with us and we all crossed the finish line together. We didn't come in 1st, but we didn't come in last either. 

When we finally did finish, it was an amazing feeling to be DONE!!!

Stacey, Jackie, and Jo coming into the finish

Crossing the finish line and getting their color

Us coming into the finish

Ready for an explosion

YAHOO!!!

We did it!!

We finished under an hour! I had wanted to finish faster than the 5k on the 5th and I did. My official finish time was 57 minutes!

I am so happy to have made the friends that I've made. I don't LOVE running (yet) and I still don't consider myself a runner. I'd like to build up enough endurance to actually RUN an entire 5k and not run/walk like I've had to do. I just don't have it yet, but I'm doing better than I ever have. 

I'm so happy that Steve and the boys came to watch me finish, and it was even more awesome to have my dad there. He's been such a big supporter since I started running last year. I am glad that he was able to come to see me actually run a 5k and he took a ton of pictures. I hope I made him proud.

I was not emotional at all when finishing. I'm glad I ran the Emory 5k and had that first experience to draw upon. I think I was so emotional with that one because it was the first, and I did something that I didn't think I'd ever do. While I didn't run the entire thing, I did run a lot of it, and I finished and didn't give up.

I had a great time running the Color Run and look forward to running the Turkey Trot with my cousin, my older brother, and my dad. Should be very memorable and even more awesome because I'm running with family.

For everyone that's been reading and supporting me, I can't thank you enough. There are plenty of times when I feel like giving up and I feel like a failure, but your words of encouragement keep me going and help get me back to a good place.

I Forgot How Hard It Is

It's funny. I have been looking at 5k races and getting myself all excited to run one and I was thinking, "it's 3.1 miles... I can do 3.1 miles." I even signed up (and paid) for my first 5k with the 5k Crew and I was super excited to get out there on Monday and run.

I got a text from Leigh Anne saying that because of the rain, she didn't want to take her twins out and have to deal with them and the rain. I can't blame her. So she said she'd train on her own later in the day and she'd catch up to us another day.

Lesley and Ann were still game for W1D1 of C25K, so we met at the Haynes Bridge Greenway. It wasn't raining too hard (yet), but it was sprinkling. We started out and it was good. I'm not sure when I started to realize how hard it was, but I definitely did.

I had forgotten how hard it is to start up again. All the sore muscles, the burning in the legs, all forgotten. Then I mentally started to beat myself up. If I had just stayed with running over the summer last year, this wouldn't even be an issue today. But I didn't. I stopped because of the weather (it gets SO HOT in the summer here) and because I was afraid to run at 5:30am by myself.

We finished our training and we were soaking wet, but I felt good. I was happy that I had successfully finished day one and we went a total of 1.6 miles (I ran .6 and walked 1.0). I was feeling good and then when I got home, I sat on the couch and tried to relax.

That's when everything started to hurt. 

Today, I am hurting.m My back muscles hurt, my abs hurt, my inner thighs hurt, and my hips hurt. 

 

So I decided to read back to when I started this blog back in May of 2012. Surly, the pain I'm experiencing is similar to the pain from the first time I started, right? Well... what I discovered kinda amazed me.

Yes, the pain is the same. It's normal and as I was reading, I realized that the pain WILL go away eventually, and the first time out is REALLY hard. I've done it, and I can move forward.

What excited me though, is that I ran W1D1 as expected on the app. I ran a full minute and walked 1.5 minutes. After reading past posts, I realized that when I started last year, I did 30 seconds of running then 45 seconds and finally worked my way to 1 full minute after like a month. 

I am proud of myself. I am happy that I got out there for the first time in over a year and I survived. As I told Lesley, "I can do just about anything for 30 minutes."

In other news, my brother Dave and/or his wife Heather have said they'd like to join me in the Turkey Trot, and my dad is thinking about it. So it will be me and Jessica for sure and then hopefully a few others in my family too. I am really excited, but a little scared to run in such cold temps. Jessica said she's going to talk to someone about how to prepare ourselves for the cold, so we don't injure ourselves.

Tomorrow is Wednesday, which is my crazy day. Hugh has a baby playgroup at 8:30am, so I won't be able to train in the morning. Instead, we're going to try to run after the kids are in bed, so we'll meet at 8pm. The good news is that it's without kids, and later, so should be cooler. The bad news is that it's the end of the day and I'm afraid my motivation to train will be gone. We shall see. The good news is that by tomorrow night, (HOPEFULLY) I won't be as sore and I'll be feeling better.

I'll post again after tomorrow!

Back on the Horse

There are a couple of things that happened today before/during my run. I'd like to share.


1) I woke up numerous times last night (I was literally tossing and turning) because I was trying to decide if I was actually going to get up and run or not. When I had decided that I would, indeed run, I then had to think of my route.


2) When 5:20 arrived, I was in a DEEP sleep cycle and did NOT want to wake up. This is what kept going though my head (seriously):

So I got myself up and stretched and then headed out the door. The minute I stepped outside, I felt a raindrop. I had just mustered up motivation to run (it's been over a week since my last run), so I wasn't about to go back inside. However... I had no idea that I was about to embark on a run that would be 90% in the rain.


3) I learned that I DO enjoy running in the rain. It's actually kinda nice to have the rain to cool me off while I'm sweating and hot. What I DON'T like is running in the rain for the majority of my run, and then having it stop raining and become REALLY humid and hot for the last portion of my run.


4) I chose a new route today. I didn't think it through and I never even drove it to see if it'd be do-able. I just decided to go for it. Which, normally would be great. Today, was just stupid on my part.


5) I also started (unbeknown to myself) the DREADED week four of C25K. This takes you from running three minutes, to running FIVE minutes. It felt like I was running longer than usual, but I didn't intend on doing this week yet. I wanted to do another round of week three.


6) I RAN FIVE MINUTES. I didn't stop. 

7) My new route took me out to Sargent and then it was flat for about a second and then it went downhill. It took me five minutes of running and I was still running downhill (yes, it's a MONSTER hill). So I was doing great and feeling pumped... until I had to start running uphill. The uphill part wasn't too bad on Sargent. I tuned into my sub's other entrance, and it was flat for a bit so it was good.


8) Then it stopped raining. 


9) It was ALL uphill from that point to my house.


10) I was not prepared for such an incline and so much uphill running. I'm still very out of shape and carrying a LOT of extra weight... it was really hard. I had to stop because my heart monitor watch started beeping at me (it alarms me when my heart-rate is too high). I don't want to stroke-out or have a heart-attack, so I stopped running and walked.


Now, let's be real. My walking was really no slower/faster than my running at this point. LOL. But I was able to bring my heart rate back down to a normal range.


I stopped my run at 1.35 miles and didn't finish the 5 minute cool-down. I was out of space and didn't want to go a little only to turn around.


11) I realized how much I really enjoy the Greenway for running. Running through my neighborhood will have to do until the fall when it's cooler, but once we're back in cooler temps, I fully intend on going back to running around 8/9 am at the Greenway with Gus.


Before I cut my run off short-- I was averaging a 17.45 minute mile. My fastest yet!! I believe in the running world, this is called a PB. :-)

So now I'm done and just finished eating a whole wheat bagel and some strawberries. I'm ready to get in the shower and then Gus and I have morning plans at a sunflower farm!! My parents should be here in about 10 hours or so and I'm glad my morning run is over. It's going to be a high of 103 here today!!!