Another 5K In the Books

On Sunday, April 22, 2012, I was able to partake in my 3rd 5K. I must say I really pushed myself on this one. I ran the entire race and felt great after it. The night before the race I was able to realize that I am starting to enter a comfort zone and that 3 miles is no longer a challenge for me. In no way, shape, or form did I have any pre-race jitters or experience any anxiety like I did with my first two races.
Another thing I was able to realize, is that I am becoming a serious and competitive runner. At the race the timing system they used did not track each runner's starting time, therefore there was no net time at the end of the race. This excuse my language, really pissed me off. I like to know how well I do in each race so I can track my progress, them not tracking me from the time I crossed the starting line is not helping this goal. Also the course was marked wrong, it was 3.25 miles instead of 3.1 so of course my time ended up being longer, uggggh! I really felt some kind of way after the race and I can say I wasn't really feeling accomplished, I was a little down because my recorded time was 35:02, that means I didn't beat my last PR, and I have a strong feeling that I did beat it when I hit 3.1 in the race. Next time I know to make sure I set RunKeeper and Endomondo to 3.1 when I start the race. I am slowly but surely starting to put the race behind me and continue to train for my 10K next month. As of now I plan on doing it on May 20th. Since 3.1 miles is no longer a challenge I decided to do something about it and step it up! I shall keep you posted on how that goes.

Motivation

You see those two beautiful young ladies to your left? Well, those are my linesisters Carmen & Kelle! First let me start off my saying, I love them dearly, no matter how much time we are apart and don't communicate that much, when we are around each other it's like we were never apart. I started running with Black Girls Run at the end of January because I was motivated by my fried Stephanie, and I knew I needed to be more concerned about my health. Never in a million years did I think that I would get a text one night from Carmen asking me about BGR and what to expect. In my head, I was thinking were my posts on Facebook and Twitter the spark that lit her fire and interest for joining BGR ( I'd like to think so). Never had I been so happy to share with Carmen all of the great benefits and MAJOR support she would receive by joining BGR. Like me Carmen was a bit nervous about getting out there and being among some of the seasoned members, I just knew I was going to feel like an outcast and they were going to leave me behind...I reassured her it was a go at your own pace and build yourself up type of deal and that "no woman is left behind" no matter what time you finish BGR will be there waiting for you. So it truly moved me when I got the notification on Twitter that Carmen was going out for her first BGR run!!! What was even better what the text she sent "I had fun, think I'm gonna get addicted"......
I love sharing my experiences I've had so far along the way and sharing tips to help make running a lot easier and fun.
Now Kelle's notification was bit different, one night I get notification from Facebook that Kelle has posted on my wall. I'm thinking oh maybe she tagged me in something or is sharing a post. Well, to my great surprise she wrote.. "Guess who joined BGR???? Gone twice so far". The fact that she felt the need to let me know shows she's been following my journey and was motivated (once again, at least I hope that's the case lol). Either way I have two more friends that are on this running journey with me who I can share stories with and support.

You never know who is watching you and just needs to see someone else go out and take a chance. Ladies I wish you the best of luck on this journey to a healthier life. I'm here if you need me even though we are far apart, maybe one day we can do a run together........