Save the Trail! 5k

Hello friends!:) Happy Memorial Day weekend!! I'm enjoying it here at work... Yay!

So, after my crappy week, with the weight gain and being sick, I was glad to end it with an accomplishment!

Friday night I hung out with Alicia for a little bit. I bought us some ceviche and yuca for dinner, it was so good! Hopefully not too bad for me. I know the ceviche isn't bad, but the yuca had quite a few calories. Oh well.

I came home and tried to go to bed early. Charlie was out with his friend so I didn't really have anything to do. I finally laid down at midnight but I kept coughing the whole night! I could not sleep because every time I tried, I would cough! So annoying!

Around 2am, I smelled food. Like someone was cooking something in the kitchen. I got out of bed and went upstairs to find Charlie on the couch watching TV, eating some snacks lol.

He was surprised that I was up. Me too! I had to get up at 6:30am! Anyways, he came back downstairs with me and we ended up watching TV and talking till 4am!! *Sigh* So much for a good night's sleep!:(

I think it was also hard to fall asleep because I was so nervous! I tried to run as much as possible that week, so I felt almost ready, but I was still scared! Luckily I wasn't running alone. That made it much better!!:)

Caitlin and Sam met me at my house around 7:30. They got to meet Chief, who's always so obnoxious when people come over. He has to sniff everyone all over and try to give them smooches, lol! But everyone ends up loving him anyways:)

We got a tiny bit lost on our way there. I'm not that familiar with the Bethesda area. Luckily Sam is!:)
We ended up getting there around 8:15 I think? The race started at 9:00am. So we went to the packet pick up and got our T-shirt, tote, coupons, and bib:)

It was so new and exciting for me. I loved every minute!! It was a really cool experience to see all those runners. Some beginners, some advanced. We even saw some pregnant ladies, and there were lots of little kids too!:) A real mixed group, which was good. I'd say there were at least 100-200 people. Not really sure though! Could be more!

We started off around the middle of the group. I'm assuming that all the hardcore people got up front first, since they were all about winning! I wanted to be towards the back, since I think I'm pretty slow!:)

They said "Go!" and we were off. We all stayed pretty close together for awhile. I felt great. Breathing fine, nothing was aching. It was nice and smooth:) The worst part was when we were still about half way down the path, and the super hardcore runners were already on their way back! Only about 10 minutes in!! Ridiculous! That sure made me feel slow! lol:)

But, on MY way back down the trail, heading towards the finish line, I saw lots of people still going in the opposite direction, and that made ME feel better!:) Hahahah!:)

Once I got to the 3 mile mark, I was starting to get really out of breath! It was getting much hotter out, and the sun was really shining. What also kind of sucked is you had to run BY the finish line, before actually crossing it! I guess to get that extra 0.11 miles, we had to do a lap around the block before finishing.

There was a small incline right towards the end, which made me feel so tired! Once I got to the top, I had to walk (still fast!) for about 2 minutes, just to catch my breath. Once I felt better, I started running again. Crossing the finish line was a great feeling!! It was mostly just a relief that it was over!! lol:) Ok, well, it wasn't THAT bad. I actually enjoyed it a lot and can't wait to do another one!!

After we finished, we met up and got some bananas, orange slices, and water. It was refreshing! I felt great. Hot and sweaty, but great! I actually felt like I wanted to go and run again, or do some other kind of activity! I guess it was the adrenaline:) BUT, instead, we went to Georgetown Cupcake at Bethesda Row!!!:)

It was really close, but we decided to drive over there. We got there and we still had 5 minutes till they opened. I wonder how bad we looked, in our running clothes, all sweaty and gross, getting cupcakes?? lol! Oh well! It was our reward!:)

I had peered through the window to look at which cupcakes I was getting. I decided to get 3. I would have loved to get half a dozen, but I know the temptation would kill me, having them there at the house. Just like that evil red velvet cake!!>:{ So I got 1 for me, 1 for Charlie, and 1 to share. Red Velvet for me (lol), Vanilla Birthday for Charlie, and Chocolate Ganache to share. The red velvet was A-MAZ-ING!! So was the Chocolate Ganache. I don't know how Charlie's was, because I didn't taste it:)

Here's a picture of our cupcakes, minus the red velvet, because I ate it before I thought of taking a picture! lol They're a little beat up from the ride home:)

I wish I could tell you my exact time, and what place I came in, but the results aren't up yet! I forgot to stop my HRM right after crossing the finish line, but when I did stop it, it was around 35 minutes, which I'm really happy about! When I did 5k on the treadmill the other day, my time was 41 minutes I think, or 45, so 35 is a big improvement! Runkeeper (my app) said that my average pace was 5.15mph... way better than my usual 4.3 - 4.6 mph!:)

All in all it was a great race!! I loved it. I'm already looking at more to do!!:) My plan is to do at least 1 a month!:) Oh, and my new goal, exercise wise, is to walk from my house, to my parents house! From Laurel(Howard County) to Berwyn Heights (PG County) lol! It's about 10 miles. Google maps said it would take me about 3 hours. But I'm looking for a good challenge!

My only worry is that I can't think of a route that has sidewalks all the way there. I checked, and pretty much any way you go, the sidewalks stop at some point. And it's always on a scary road!:/ Oh well, I'll just have to run those parts I guess!:) I'm gonna look for day to do it right now!:)

OMG... it's only 10:38pm!!!:( *Sigh* I've got a long ways to go!

Hope you enjoyed reading about my first 5k ever!!:) Have a good night!:)

Anna