Hospice Hope Run 5K Walk/Run

This post is about 3 weeks overdue, for which i do apologize. I was very excited to participate in this event as I wrote earlier in April - it was fundraising for an amazing organization that helped my mother in law and her family in many ways after her cancer diagnosis in 2011, but it was also proof that I was getting healthier and my fitness level was improving. If I finished - it would be public validation that I was moving forward in my goals since my weight loss surgery!

I met several members of my weight loss support group at the event starting point an hour or so early - Jennifer Baldwin, Cathy Pierce, Ricky Foxx, and a friend of Jennifer's. It was our goal to participate in a group, but we vowed to meet at the finish line if we were to get separated. I honestly was afraid I'd be one of the very last across the finish line, a fear that didn't really go away as people surged ahead of me quickly as we took off. But I'm getting ahead of myself - here's our group before the call to line up at the start. (Which one's me? :D )

Not super happy with the way I looked here - sports bra was getting too big, so I was droopy again, and the T shirt a tad tight (I ordered a 2X, and they were "out" when I picked up my race packet the day before, so I was given an XL- really?) Ah well.

As we gathered for the start, the Winston-Salem State University Marching Band came up to the base of the stadium and played a few songs for the participants - that was kind of fun.

Then we were off! I was surprised as we got about a mile out into the course at the several reasonably large hills that were there - the general neighborhood is not hilly at all - it seems they found a pocket of streets just for that purpose!  Downhill of course was a nice bit of rest, but uphill really pushed me to keep going without stopping and without slowing down too much.

In the week before the event I had done 3 miles on my treadmill at 2.4 mph, so that came in with a time of an hour and 15 minutes. As I saw the stadium come back into view I was very motivated to finish well - I had a general idea of how long I'd been walking since I had my cell phone with me, but the official race clock would tell me with more precision.

Since I wasn't a timed "runner", I wouldn't get an exact time using the RFID tags built into some people's race numbers, but the big clock was still ticking away as you crossed the finish line.

I was the last of my little group to finish - but by far wasn't anywhere near last of all the participants to finish - I came in at 1 hour 06 minutes!! I was thrilled. I'd done my first 5k - and the results can only get better when I do my next one.

I raised a total of $200 for the Hospice and Palliative Care Center - and won a very big "non-scale victory" in finishing the event.

I was so sore the next day I was hobbling a bit (hills work your shins in ways that the treadmill doesn't!) - but I'd done it.

Yay me!