i can do anything good

I don't think it's ostentatious for me to say that I am proud of myself. Let me start at the beginning.

Having a baby really effs up your body. I kind of knew that beforehand but I didn't really know. My stomach is COVERED in stretch marks and my poor lady melons are not looking so hot due to the breastfeeding and engorgement.

So after not doing much physical activity for the extent of the pregnancy, I decided to whip myself into shape a couple of months after Jack's birth. I failed miserably.

I tried running but I couldn't even go once around the track without getting all breathless and feeling like my side was going to explode. Needless to say, I was discouraged and I didn't know where to go from there.

After a while, I regained my motivation and I started to work out. First, I did the elliptical which was great. It made me feel like I was physically fit without all of the soreness but it was still difficult even at a resistance of 1.

Slowly, I worked my way up and it became pretty easy to do the elliptical. While during my various workout endeavors, I came across an advertisement for a Valentine's Day 5k.

Yikes, I thought, I hope someday I can do that. Then I realized that maybe, just maybe, I was already there or pretty close. So I talked to Tyler and asked him if he wanted to complete a 5k with me and I was surprised when he agreed.

The first time I stepped on the treadmill, I was really nervous of how much I would totally fail and I am embarrassed to admit that I was worried about what people would think of me. My goal was to be able to run at least half of it which is 1.68 miles (I think). I ran the first lap and then the next and the next and the next! With ease! Soon, I completed my goal and I was on my way.

Fast forward to the week of the 5k. That Monday I decided to push myself to see if I could run the WHOLE 5k (that's 3.25 miles, mind you. It's a big deal to me). I pushed myself HARD and at last, I ran the whole 5k in about 40:00 min. I thought that was a good time until I went online and I realized that it sucked. People run these things in like, half that time. I didn't really care though because the important thing was that I finished.

Buzzerp-buzzerp-buzzerp. Fast forward again to the day of the race. I was so nervous for some odd reason. I guess it was because I was envisioning unrealistic scenarios. Here's how one of those scenarios went:

I start off and everyone instantly passes me up in which, lap after lap, I am finally the only person left on the track. Then as I try to finish each lap lamely, the people in charge yell at me and ask why I even thought I could do this and that I was really slow. Then as I finally finish, I trip and fall on my face to which everyone laughs and points fingers at me because I so obviously soiled my pants. You know, because the running jumbles your stomach around and I had an "accident" at the point of the fall. Then for the rest of my college career, I am known as the "5k Soiler" which only sends me into a downward spiral of hatred towards racing and everyone that does it!

Now you can understand how I was nervous.

As I started the race, it was great! I had a guy keeping track of how much I had already run and would encourage me to keep going by telling me how many laps I had left. However, since I had only trained on a treadmill, I soon found out that running in real life is a lot harder! I was able to run 2.00 miles before I had to stop to speed walk. Then after .50 miles, I stepped it up and ran the last .75 miles until I finally finished with a sprint and at a time of 38:08!

Here we are, in all our sweaty glory, just after finishing the race.

Jack came along for the ride too!

Even with the walking and running in real-life versus the treadmill, I was able to beat my training time. It was exhilarating to finally finish! I had completed my first ever 5k and it felt so freakin' good. What's best is that I wasn't last and I didn't fall on my face or soil my pants.

Now, I am looking for another 5k to train for. My next goal is to be able to run it in under 30 minutes. That comes out to be about a 9-minute mile but I know I can do it. I can do anything good.