Saving the Boobies.
I ran my first ever race, it was only a 5k, but it was a race none-the-less. It was the Komen Race for the Cure in OKC. It was for a great cause, to help save the boobies from cancer, which I am 100% for saving them!
The night before the race I was sick as a dog! I had either come down with something, or my nerves got to me (which I have been known to have happen cause I get so worked up about stuff when I’m nervous). I had run a fever, could not sleep and was about as pale as an already whitey like myself could be. I slept like crap that night, but still got up and went to the race, cause I was not going to miss my first ever race!
There are THOUSANDS of people there. All skill levels, from people who walked to 12 min mile people to 5 min mile people. I fall in the range of 8-10 min miles depending on the length of the race and how well I’m running that day.
The first mile was really difficult, to say the least, there are so many people in so narrow an area trying to all move in the same direction. It was chaos. My first mile time suffered due to this, but once it finally opened up I was able to stretch my legs a bit and made up most of the time from the first mile.
I ended with the following results: 29.27 mins for the full 5k. Ranked 67 out of 172 in my age/gender group, and ranked 393 out of 1389 total.
Not bad. I learned alot at my first race.
- Your pace can be a little quicker in a race than in practice, it seems easier to push yourself and you are way less likely to slow/stop at any point.
- Water stops are really cool! I felt all about some awesome when I grabbed the cup of water, drank it and just threw the cup on the ground.
- The last 100 yards are the most fun, I went on a full out sprint to the finish (which also leads me to believe my pace was too slow because I had way too much energy left)
I did become VERY emotional on the last quarter to half mile of the race. I just got a flood of emotions. Mostly because this time exactly 1 year ago, I could not have walked this race, and now I’m running in it. It just all hit me right then and I was just so happy.
I hope everyone out there can experience this one day… it is so worth it, and more so when it is for as good a cause as saving the boobies.
From the Komen website:
Thank you to everyone who ran, walked, volunteered, cheered, or donated to this year’s Komen Oklahoma City Race for the Cure. With over 15,000 participants and over $260,000 in donations to date, this is our most succesful year to date.
