Emily will be so proud of me!

Tonight was the start of Hookslide Kelly's spring 5k series and Paul has been pressuring me for weeks to run. I've mostly ended up on the side of NOT GONNA HAPPEN during these discussions. All day long I thought about this 5k and on my way home from work had pretty much decided I was not going to slog. Even as Paul was getting dressed to run I was saying that I wasn't going to run, but that maybe I would do my own thing during the 5k (as in walk or something off the route).

During the car ride I realized my feelings towards the race were not rooted in an inability to complete a 5k, but rather in a lot of feelings of intimidation and lack of confidence in myself. So then after more discussion I thought I would run.

As we parked the car and started to walk towards the bar to register I had amazing amounts of anxiety (sweaty palms, heart racing, pit in my stomach) and I realized I had to complete this 5k in order to overcome my anxiety. Plus it helped that Paul paid my entrance fee (okay, it was only $10, but I didn't want to waste my money on something that might kill me).

You can go ahead and call me LL Cool J because the lesbians love cool Jenn...I immediately find my fan club and they are encouring! And the starting gun is fired and everyone is off. I actually kept pace with the ladies for a good while before I stopped to walk. The whole 5k I kept saying to myself that I completed 51 miles of the Breast Cancer 3 Day so I got this.

I finished in 42:20 (weird since today is 4/20). Paul met me within the last 1/2 mile to encourage me in (I have the best hubby ever). The best part was that I didn't feel like I was going to die! Last year when I ran in the summer series I was crying and wanted to throw up at the end. Improvement! And my lesbian fan club was waiting at the end to give me high fives!

Paul and I walked back towards the bar and he ran up into the parking garage to get money so we could eat. As I waited for him (I knew I wasn't going to be able to climb 3 flights of stairs...I'm not that stupid) I thought that I should've had him grab my ID. I mean we were eating dinner at a bar...what I wanted a cocktail? And so I said to him when he got down that I should've had him grab my id and my little enabler had gotten it out of my wallet already! I knew I married him for a reason.

Of course after my dinner of Greek salad, potato skins, and beer (and water, too) I whined about wanting to throw up all the way to the car (which we got to by elevator, NOT the stairs).

So, we'll see if I can walk tomorrow, but I can say that I definitely feel I successfully slogged my way through my first 5k of the series. Go me, go me, go me!