Women's Only!

If you don't know this about me, I consider myself a runner. I started running races in 2008 and am always working to run further and to run faster. I ran my first half marathon in October of 2008. 2009 I kind of slacked off a little.... I was really busy, January-May, I was working, had an internship and trying to get to graduation, from August-October I was working 2 jobs. And technically at the beginning of August is when I found out I was pregnant with Leeland and wanted to take things easy anyways. With all that said, I was determined to get back to running after Leeland was born and it was TOUGH! People say that your muscles remember which could be true, but your lungs sure don't! I felt like I was starting all over again. My goal was originally to get back into shape and start training for my second half-marathon. But with the demands of having a baby, and starting all over again, I didn't get that far. I settled for a 5k, which is still an accomplishment. An added bonus is that it was for a GREAT cause. I lost my mother to breast cancer when I was 7 years old and the Women's Only raises money for a mammography scholarship fund for women who don't have health insurance-- making sure that another little girl out there doesn't lose her mommmy.

I decided the day before the race that instead of having someone baby-sit Leeland, I would run the race with him. That is why my husband and I invested so much money in our BOB (fancy jogger stroller). And I am SO GLAD that I made that decision! We had to be there an hour and a half before the race started because they block off the roads. We walked around, watched the little girls run, and picked up lots of SWAG (stuff we all get). Leeland had a bottle and ended up falling asleep just as we were lining up. He slept from the start until right after we got to the finish! I'm so proud of him! He's such a great running buddy! :0)

The fastest 5k I have ever run is 32 minutes. And that was way back in 2008 when I was racing consistently. Prior to this race the furthest I got in training was a little over 2 miles so I was SUPER nervous. I ended up running the whole thing in 40 minutes and 9 seconds, not bad for starting back out and pushing a stroller.