5K

Like I said earlier, I decided that I want to start jogging...even if it's more of a shuffle/crawl/walk...

C. ran cross country and track in HS, and it turns out that some of the parents of those runners are now running themselves.
(I've always said that runners are the nicest of the athletes. They respect each other, and are supportive even of the slow runners. The parents were like that, too. At meets, they cheer for everyone.)

So one of these women found out, and she encouraged me in the goal. Then her and another woman went a step further and said they'd work on it with me!

You should know that Donna and Jane are superfast, superfit people (their kids are superfast, superfit people too!). It was a sacrifice to help me in this way. They'd finish their workout, and then shuffle along with me for another hour.

Because I can't talk at all - at this point, I'm out of breath immediately and it sounds like I'm dying -- they would have one-way conversations the entire time to keep my mind off of the jogging part.

There was a 5k that was about 5 weeks out, and they encouraged me to try it. So I did!

I'm in no way ready for a 5k- I am still walk/jogging -- but they assured me that others were walking it.

So the day of the race, L. decided to do it with me. Which was really sweet of him. He did the same thing -- talked to himself the whole time. He played music on his phone for a while. He was so encouraging.

After Donna won her age division, she jogged back to join me! Jane was organizing the entire race, and she found me right at the finish line, even though she had a billion things to do.

I finished in 44:53, which met my goal of breaking 45 minutes. I walk really slow - probably 3.0-3.3 mi/hour. (19-20 min miles) and I jog really slow, too (13 min miles) so that means I probably jogged a little more than 1/2 of it.

We got long sleeved purple shirts, which I love. I'm self conscious, so I was trying to find L. after the race and he made this funny joke about me lurking (I kinda went behind pillars and things and looked out to find him). The joke is still making me laugh, there was nothing mean spirited about the way he said it, it was just true. It makes me realize how much this self-consciousness limits me. (I really did look for things to stand behind so I could find him...I'd have never just walked through the crowd)

My overall feelings?
It was pretty good, because I'm on that MF diet, so I have less energy. It's my first one, I'll improve. And the biggest thing was how supportive people are - Jane and Donna and Lucas. A friend from church was there with her mom, and she was really sweet, too.

I don't usually effuse on facebook, but I posted that I was overwhelmed with goodness -- because that's how I felt after the race, and all weekend.