First Race!!

Yesterday was my first race. I'm going to post my race time underneath the story because you really have to understand why it was the way it was.

Anyway, I woke up at 5 am and got ready to go. Was feeling great yet a little anxious. I knew it was only a 5k and nothing to really sweat. I woke up Andy (the bf) around 5:45 am and we headed out the door.

We got to the Mall of America at approximately 6:45ish. It was freezing cold!! The wind was pretty fierce and it was quite chilly. I was lucky that I had brought my Nike running jacket but was really wishing I had a hat. (The hat I'm wearing I picked up after the race).

Anyways, Andy was there to support me but didn't run this time around. I'm grateful he was there. He walked over with me to the start line where two of our news personalities were announcing the start of the race. Andy took off in search of the finish line while I stood there and waited for the start. When the race finally started, I realized that my time wasn't going to matter at all. It took us a good 10 minutes just to clear the start line. There were 7500 runners trying to get through one street. The view of all of the people was spectacular though. I didn't really get to my own pace until about mile 1.5. I was actually shocked when we passed the 1 mile marker and I was still jogging and trying to weave in and out of slower runners. It was quite the experience because it really wasn't a race to race...it was more of a greater race for a cause. But it was a good experience and supported a good cause which is what I wanted.

Anyways, I ended up doing a lot of weaving in and out of people and dodging people. I found a strategy to follow the faster runners because they cleared the crowd and all I had to do was follow.

I finished with official time of 31:00 with no side stitches (until I stopped at the very end!). But awesome! Anyways, obviously it took me at least 2 minutes to get through the start line and I would have had a faster time had I not been dodging slower runners but it was pretty good considering.

Along the notes of the side stitches...I may have potentially found the cause. The doctor was probably right with the pulled muscle theory as Andy was pushing on my side Saturday night to try to find the problem and Eureka...he hit a very sore spot on my right side. So it looks like the doctor may have been right.

Anyways, after the race we went through all of the pink booths, gathered a bunch of crap and then went home. And here is a picture of Andy after we returned ...