1. Train and run a 5k

I am excited to say that I am officially crossing this bad boy off the list! Yesterday, the hubby, our two boys and I ran the Color Palooza. We got up early, ate some toast, drank some water and headed out to the start. We got there super early so we had a lot of time to just putz around. Which just lead to alot of nervous energy for me, haha.

Line up time finally was called and we gathered with about 500 of our closest friends to start the race. We were off and running. Ironically, we went over 1 bridge right out of the gate which had an incline, made a left and over another bridge which also had an incline. Curse you, course creators! But we were doing well, all four of us sticking together. Somewhere around the first mile, the 10 year old couldn't hang. To be fair, we did surprise both boys with this event the day before. The hubby hung back to make sure he didn't get lost in the crowd. The 14 year old and I kept pushing on.

Did I mention how hot it was? Cuz it was like a thousand degrees. Yes, 1000. Most of the training I've done over the last 8 weeks or so was in the not so hot part of the day because running in the heat in kind of a b*tch. So this race was tougher than most of the runs I've been on lately. Luckily, I had a pretty good motivator. The 14 year old literally pushed me every time I wanted to walk. Total for the whole race, we maybe walked about a block and 1/2. And I am ok with that. If it had been a bit cooler, I truly believe I could have pushed through the whole time but that heavy hot air is, well heavy and hot.

They don't give you a time at the end of the race but I can say I ran across the finish like and that was an awesome feeling. And the hubby did mapmyrun his time so based on his, I can say mine was somewhere in the 30-35 min range. I know I said I didn't care about the time and that just as long I finished I'd be happy, but I'm pretty ecstatic about a 30-35 minute 5k. Considering the attempt last year was a total of 1.5minutes running before feeling like I was going vomit and not even finishing the darn thing. Ecstatic I tell.

Also, one of the other things that made this event that much better was having the 10 year be in just absolute shock and amaze that he finished his first 5k as well. My boy is not super active and dislikes running as much as I do, so to give him this experience was a great feeling as well. 

1. Train and run a 5k

It's race week, sports fans!

Saturday is the day I run my very first 5k. I've not quite finished the C25k program, I'm on week 8 but I feel ok about this. I have had my ups and downs with this running nonsense. But some where about week 6(the second time around) each run I did was better than the last. With that being said, last night was my best one so far. 28 minutes.WITHOUT.STOPPING. Yes, that's right.

When I started this excursion, I really didn't know what to expect. Part me really thought it was gonna be easy and I'd have a "why didn't I start this sooner" moment. And the more I ran, the harder I realized it was. And the more proud of myself I became. And all you folks out there in internet land who think they can't run, can just forget it. If I can do this, you certainly can.

I have a fondness for my running shoes that is so weird to me. They are perfectly broken in, slightly muddy and beautiful. I've loved shoes before but never for these reasons. In fact, I've never loved sneakers in my life. I'm a flip-flop kind of girl. But when I put those sneakers on, I feel a sense of power that is totally foreign to me but I totally dig it. It's like they whisper to me the whole time that I can in fact do this.

 Or it's the voices. Whatevs.

Nonetheless, I'm calling myself a runner. And no matter what my time is on Saturday, as long as a finish, I can say that this list item will be my proudest.