The First Race

Not long after I had begun running and realized it was not going to destroy my legs like I had always worried my mindset began to change.  I began to think about doing a race.  I knew that it had to be short; half marathons were definitely not in my near future.  I chose a 5K, the CapeAbilities 5K which was set to take place in Hyannis a mere 6 weeks after my first mile run had been undertaken.

Was I ready?  I did my research and found that in order to run a 5K you really only needed to be able to comfortably run 5 miles, which was not too lofty of expectations.  Why did I want to do a race so soon after beginning to run?  I wanted to push myself.  Up until even the week before I did my first mile I thought that running was something ‘other people’ did.  Now that I was becoming one of the ‘others’ I wanted to be out there among them.

I signed up for the race along with my running teacher and good friend Emily; she was a master of the half marathons but made an exception to do a 5K since it was my first ever race.  My Uncle Steve did the same; he was a veteran of a few Boston Marathons so for him a 5K was an off day.  I knew that and was so excited to get to run with the both of them.  The training was nothing different from what I had been doing.  Getting up over 5 miles in a run was not much of a stretch and I knew once I reached that goal I didn’t need to go much further.  I would be in pretty good shape come race day.  I had lost 12 pounds in my first 6 weeks of running and invested in some new ‘race day’ clothes to show what I had lost.  The fact that I was that comfortable with my body was such a great feeling.

On May the 14^th it was cool and misty near the water but I was ready.  I met up with Emily and Uncle Steve and then took the time to soak in the atmosphere of something so foreign to me but seemingly where I was meant to be.  After this race it would become something of a ritual to turn on my music, shut the world out, and engulf myself in the feelings of being there before a race.  

I had a nervous energy that morning.  I was so excited for my first race that I did not know what to do.  Uncle Steve had to remind me to stretch since I was wandering around the grounds like a tourist on vacation in the big city for the first time.  We took some photos but as starting time drew close I finally began to focus.

The route down by the water in Hyannis was very familiar to me; I had driven it hundreds of times.  However, driving and running are two different things.  When I began to run it all of the slightest elevation changes were apparent.  Thankfully my uncle had run the race before and alerted me to what was coming. 

Looking back on that race now nearly a year later I laugh at the fact that I was in such relatively poor aerobic condition that I felt the need to suck down a carb gel pack a mile into a 5K, I probably could have done without it.  It got stuck in my throat and I had to suck down some water from the first station just to get that down.

For the final mile my uncle gave me some advice: ‘Run Like Your Hair’s On Fire!’  Funny thing was that I was tired, never before had I gone all out like I was that day.  I have heard since then that during races sometimes you can get caught up in the emotion and the adrenaline forgoing any sort of plan you might have had.  I basically did that when I heard the starting gun and took off like a shot.

My uncle wanted me to cross the finish line like a champ so he asked me what I had left.  I told him ‘nothing.’  Still I pushed that aside and after dodging a fresh pile of dog poop I hurried toward the finish.  I literally left every ounce of energy out there.  I ended up gassed and lying on my back in the grass.  My sister Kate made it to the finish line with my nieces Kaleigh and Emma and my nephew Landon.  There are a few funny pictures of the kids surrounding me since I was too tired to stand.  I was so happy to be surrounded by friends and family on such a big day, but I was even happier to be finished.

My time of 24:28 – 7:53/mi. was better than I had thought I could do but the numbers were not the most important thing.  What was most important was the fact that I had actually done it.  I had actually completed my first race when only 6 weeks earlier I was dreading doing a 10 minute mile on a treadmill.  I had started to believe that there was nothing that I could not do in life.  I wanted to share this feeling and belief with everyone in my life.  I wasn’t going to become a motivational speaker, but I was definitely getting more into preaching that impossible was nothing.  That frame of mind began to spill over from running into the rest of my life and led to another huge moment in my life: Getting my first book deal.  That’s a story for another day though.