St. Paddy 5k...#4

This is the 4th year I've run the Tulsa St. Paddy 5k with my brother, Andy. The first year we ran I had 2 goals. 1) I wanted to RUN the entire thing, no walking. 2) I wanted to finish in under 30 minutes. I met both goals and finished in 27.54. I was very proud of my self. Andy and I don't count the next year because I had to take a pee break. And last year I did OK. Which brings us to this year, but first a little background...

Last fall the big boys and I started running with a club one day a week. The running coach is Ethan Sunday school teacher but has had all my kids at some point during worship service. Needless to say he knows who we are =) So, Levi and I ran our local Zoo Run last Oct. Levi did great and finished in 28.30. And after that I got an e-mail about another run at the same location. This one was called the OWL RUN. Proceeds went to help burn survivors. How could I not participate?? Dang! It started early! I had to be there at 7:30. And we all went. Aaron got some pics but I can't find them =/ Anyway, my finish time for that run was 26.39. Still not sure how I did that but I did. And because running is something Andy and I both enjoy I shared my news.

He thought that if I trained for it I could finish my next run, the St. Paddy, in 25 minutes. Just thinking about it made me so nervous. But I was determined. I bought my in-laws treadmill last year so I started running on that. It's a good thing I had it because with us schooling in the mornings and Aaron working at night I didn't really feel like I had any other options. When I did run outdoors I felt sluggish and very heavy. Even if my times didn't reflect it.

So the morning of the run I was still nervous. I thought all my hard work was going to be for nothing because I hadn't run with elements to deal with(wind, terrain). I did my best and felt like my lungs were going to explode. BUT...I finished in 25.09!!! Andy tried to make me believe I wasn't going to make my time so I would run faster. He just wanted to see if I could finish in under 25 minutes. He wasn't very nice at all until after we crossed that finish line. Then he was all kinds of proud =)

Here are my stats...out of 959 females I finished #51. And out of 163 in my age group I finished #10. I've got some other runs through out the year. Next up is the Warrior dash in May. After that I'll find some races for Levi to run with me. It's all about having fun now =)