I will do my best to keep this as short as possible.
My 5k Cross Country race on Thursday night was AMAZING!
MY boyfriend decided 20 minutes before the race started that
we he wanted to join.
 |
The boy and I before the race |
My parents were there and the atmosphere was great. Even during
the race people were saying “good job” “you doing great” the entire way. It was
a very positive and encouraging atmosphere.
About 75% of the course was an incline and after .5 miles I
thought I was going to die. It by far was one of the hardest things I have ever
done. I am happy I trained with some incline but even so, I was not prepared
for how challenging this course was going to be. It was hill, after hill, after
down hill, after big up hill.
At one point I was cramping so bad and my heart rate was so
high I contemplated taking a short break, but I kept going.
The last .5 of the race was probably the most challenging
mentally because we zig zagged side ways up a hill and I could see how far in
front of me I still had left to go (where as on the trail you couldn’t see what
was next.)
Seeing how far the finish line was damaged my spirit hard
core but I kept going, and I tried to keep a good pace.
When the finish line was straight ahead I got a glimpse of
the time clock. (My goal was to finish this race in an hour or less. If the
clock had said 59:59 I would have been happy.) When I saw that the finish clock
said 48 minutes I was in shock!!!
I gasped, said “oh my god” out loud, and just started running.
I could not (and still cannot) believe I finished in 48:35. I was so over
whelmed and emotions were all over the place that as soon as I grabbed flowers
from my mother who was waiting at the finish line, I continued to run away from
the crowd because I burst into tears.
I was so hesitant to sign up for this race due to the
challenging course. On race day I had the biggest butterflies because I truly
did not believe I was going to finish in an hour. (And this is when I thought
there were only a few hills involved.) I stuck with it and finished. I finished
in 48:35 beating my last 5k time by 6 minutes. And my last 5K was on a normal
road/pavement, not grass hills and gravel.
I am high off of life these days and I am so proud of
myself.
Three years ago I couldn’t breathe after climbing a flight
of stairs, and two days ago I completed a cross country 5k course in 48
minutes. FUCK YES!
I discovered I have “runners toe” and I don’t even care. To
be honest I am proud of this bad boy.
Way to crush your goal! You did awesome. I have the same jacked up runner's toe as you. I lost the nail last year. It grew back, but it's been black and blue/weird colored ever since. It's a battle scar, be proud ;)
ReplyDeleteCongratulations!! Awesome job!!
ReplyDeleteJust a tip/suggestion about the runner's toe - make sure you have properly fitting shoes. I used to get it ALL the time; two of toe nails were constantly turning dark then popping off. Sometimes it is a result of wearing shoes that don't fit properly. If you're going to continue running and haven't done so, it's a good idea to go to a running store and have your stride evalutated. They will then recommend a type of shoe for you. Since I bought new, properly fitting shoes I've had runner's toe once and that was when I did a half marathon. There are times you will still get it, but it doesn't hurt to make sure you're wearing well-fitting footwear.