My First 5K, or The Epic Battle Between My Pride And My Legs

So on my diet blog I talked about my first 5K race and a 10K hiker's challenge that I did recently (That post can be found HERE). In said post, I talked about how empowering it was, and how I loved every minute of it. It was empowering... after it was over. Here's the true story of the 5K (I'll do the 10K in another post):




So I saw this link on my Facebook feed advertising a St Patty's Day Fun Run (so it wasn't REALLY a race), and I thought to myself, "I've always wanted to do one, why not?" So I bribed a friend (fellow blogger Alayna) into doing it with me, because, really, it's not worth it if you can't drag someone else into your misery, right? So we dressed up in green, and headed out.

We were a little nervous before it started, and when I say "a little," I mean I was about to puke up lunch from three days before.  I felt as if my face were as green as my shirt.

Sorry it's so small, as usual, click to enlarge! (heh, that's what she said!)

Once the race started, we started jogging, after a while (I don't know how long it was, but it felt like FOR-EV-ER!) Alayna said, "Okay, I need to walk!" I silently thanked my lucky stars.

You see, I'm not as fit as I let people think I am. When most people talk about doing athletic stuff, I say "Heck, yes! I'm all over that shit!", but I'm actually thinking, "Shit, I'm never gonna make it; and if I don't make it, I'm going to embarrass myself; and if I embarrass myself in front of everyone, I'm going to cry in front of everyone; and if I cry in front of everyone..." and so on and so forth. But I digress. I'll save that for another post.

Being the good friend that I am, I kept pushing Alayna. I would say things like, "Just run to that sign, then we can walk!" You see, I have a BIG ego. I mean massive. Comparing my ego to a normal person's is like the fabled comparison of African-American men's "equipment" to Caucasian men's "equipment" (nudge, nudge, wink, wink, know what I mean?). So I had to act like this was nothing for me!

Alayna kept saying stuff like "I'm sorry I'm holding you back, you can go on without me!" I would respond with stuff like "No! We're in this together!" Our dialogue started to sound like a crappy, cheesy film about a romantic tragedy. Hey... I think I just described the plot of Titanic....

In truth, I couldn't leave Alayna behind. No, I was not being noble or anything. I just didn't want to reveal my wimpy-ness.

This is a more accurate depiction of how I felt:

In the end, we finished it in just under an hour. And we weren't last! Hey, that's a big thing for a chubby girl like me!


And you can't beat these smiles:

Bet you were wondering about the green stuff under the eyes in my drawings.... I actually had green stuff under my eyes!

So, in the end, yes it was empowering. And yes, I had a blast! No, Alayna, I don't hold any ill feelings towards you, and I am looking forward to tomorrow's 5K! Yes, people, I had so much fun I'm going to do it again!

I will write soon about last Saturday's 10K hike!