24:39

I DID IT!

This morning I met one of my running goals--the one that I thought was impossible--I ran a 5K in under 25 minutes! My time was 24:39! I am not sure how it happened, but I felt really good for most of the race. By the last half mile, however, not so good. I couldn't smile for my friend, Julie, who I knew was taking my picture. The picture below was taken by another friend, Erin. I don't look quite so distressed in this one! At the time of this photo, I was in pain!

this was right before the uphill sprint to the finish!

I have had this personal running goal for 2 years now. 2 years! And I cannot express how happy I am to finally achieve my goal, a goal I had almost given up on. This morning I decided to try one more time. The weather was great (around 45 degrees), and for some reason running at this pace (7:49) did not seem to tire me completely out. Around mile 2 I decided that today was the day. Running is really a mental sport you know. I just kept telling myself that if I met my goal today, I wouldn't have to try again next Saturday!

The only disappointment in an otherwise perfect race day was that my sweet, loving husband was not there to witness my crossing the finish line. He is on call today, and so he was at the hospital. I really, really wanted to hug him and hear him tell me how proud he was of me. I wanted to see his face! Jimmy is my biggest cheerleader. I would have never even attempted to try to run if it wasn't for his encouragement. He is always positive, always supportive, always encouraging to both me and our children. He truly is the reason I even started running 3 and a half years ago. As soon as I caught my breath after finishing, I got my cell phone from my friend Julie and immediately texted Jimmy the great news.

Olivia, Julie, and Clay all had a great race too. All four of us won trophies! Many other Spartans won trophies too, and since we competed as a team, the Spartans won the team trophy too. Go Spartans!

Here are some highlights of the day. Thanks so much to Julie for taking all of these pictures!

the beginning of the race

Julie approaching the finish line

Clay finishing with some other Spartans

Olivia, finishing up that last hill

Sam playing during the awards

Leah, with a kitten that all five children asked me if we could take home

(We didn't! We already have 3 cats and 3 dogs)

Leah playing during the race

Sam playing during the race

One running goal down,

two more to go.