First 10K: Check

Well friends, I ran my first 10k last Saturday. I was nervous because I had been sick for a few weeks prior, and hadn’t had a chance to run between my 5k on Thanksgiving and my 10k on December 8th, but I just figured I’d do the best I could do, and that was that.

I ended up finishing in 1:22, about a 13:22 pace. Slower than I would have liked, but still, as I crossed the 5k mark, I knew that I was running further than I ever had. And no matter what, every pace past that was a personal best.

Here we are at the finish – how cute are we, despite our tiredness?

We met up with Jen and Aaron, who were about to run the 5k, and color coordinated even though we didn’t realize it!

Ellen’s dad came out and was there close to the finish line, cheering on the runners, and giving me a high-5 when I past, despite the fact that Ellen had finished 17 minutes earlier…his smile and encouragement DEFINITELY got me going for the last .2 miles, indeed! Not to mention running into Jen, Aaron, and Jeff, who jumped in and finished the race with me!

Here we are looking for Ellen’s name, and my name, but more importantly, look at our cute hair ribbon that Ellen made for us!

Overall, I am glad I finished, that I didn’t finish horribly, and that I had such a great support group there to watch us run! I can’t wait to run another race and to work towards another goal, and luckily we have one coming up in February.

Hope you’re getting some goals ready for 2013, friends!

A Thanksgiving 5K + My Siblings

Heading home for Thanksgiving this year, I forgot about the inevitable cold weather that’d greet me in Chicago. Luckily, on Thanksgiving Day it was 55 degrees, and we were enjoying the sunshine as we ran the Turkey Trot pre-meal.

Here is my family at the race – Dad, Jeff, Nikki and I ran, and Mom, Jon, and Kylah all walked. I ran the race in 37:12, my new personal best.

We came home to prepare for the feast, and while waiting for the turkey to be done, I snapped these shots of my siblings being ridiculous, aka themselves.

Nothing like being home to keep your spirit silly and your laugh fresh, chicks.

Today is our last day in Chicago, and I’m going to drink some coffee, hopefully participate in Local Saturday shopping, and enjoy these two and the rest of the family until I head back with Jeffrey to LaLa land.

 

5gts: home for the holiday edition

Well folks, we’re rolling into Thanksgiving tomorrow, and we have so much to be thankful for. Here’s a good ole classic 5gts edition:

1. Tomorrow I am running my third 5k with my dad, sister, and Jeff.

2. There is prune cake, chocolate chip pumpkin muffins, and a quiche all waiting for me come tomorrow morning’s breakfast.

3. Four more days of vacation means a pizza night, friends to see, a giant turkey, saying grace with my LA family, and yoga classes to be had.

4. Joe Biden. Happy belated birthday, Joe. (Also, this gif.)

5. Thanksgiving, the best holiday of the year!

Happy Thanksgiving, lovelies. Hug someone close.

don’t mind where you are/cause you know where you’ve been

So confession: between starting a new job, juggling GMS, and figuring out how to get through this holiday season, I may or may not have had to restart my 10k training.

Twice.

OK, three times.

I didn’t want to tell you because I felt like a failure, pathetic, useless. Instead of staring mid-September, October 1, or mid-October, I started October 25. Instead of completing my 9 week program, I will run my race in the middle of week 7.

But, chicks, next week I run a 5k with my Dad (his first) and my sister (our second together) and Jeff (also our second together.) Our pace will be faster than my pace running with my sister or Jeff, and hopefully will be another personal best.

Because despite it all, I am getting faster, if slower than I like. I am losing weight, if slower than I like. And on December 8, I will run a 10K. Probably slower than I like, but I will do it. And, after that, my 10k times can only get better.

Pondering all this, I am reminded of song lyrics (because I am always reminded of song lyrics) from Carbon Leaf:

You’ve come far, and though you’re far from the end
You don’t mind where you are, cause you know where you’ve been

I think I don’t mind, chicks.