St. Patty's Day Race

I still can't believe I ran a 5k! It was my New Year's Resolution... and I ACTUALLY DID IT!! I don't think I would have done it so soon, if it had not been for my good friend Michele. She is so gung-ho when it comes to races and anything athletic. She has already signed up for a half-marathon in June...but she wasn't able to convince me to do that one, yet. 


I had about 2 months to train for my 5k - which seemed like long enough. But it kind of goes by pretty fast when you don't always follow your schedule... I was at first walking 5 minutes, jogging 7, walking 5 - and then all of a sudden I had to jump up to running 24 minutes straight! If I had kept up my training better it wouldn't have been so bad. No, I wasn't that bad, but the last 2 weeks I was pretty lazy. 


So the Thursday before my race I decided I just had to get it done with...I had to run 3 miles. I set out to the park where I knew the trail around it was 1/3 of a mile - so I had to go around 9 times. Oh my... I really thought I was going to die. I ran it in about 36 minutes, so that made me pretty happy. Now I had a time that I could kind of expect to shoot for. 

Michele and Andy (don't mind Andy... he was all drugged up because of a sinus infection. But he still came to watch us run... such a sweetie!)

Me and my sticker!

Andy and Kellie

 Saturday morning rolls around (after a very restless night sleep) - I couldn't sleep because I was afraid I was going to miss my alarm and miss the whole race. I had to wake up at 6:20 am on a Saturday! - anyway, I wake up and I am super pumped. The weather in Bellevue isn't the best, kind of rainy and overcast, but I had run in that before. So I get ready - including mascara and eyeliner, because I HAD to look cute (this is important for later in the story) - I had my 4-leaf clover sticker on my cheek, my green ribbon in my hair and my cute shirt... I was pumped! I just wanted to run out the door and get going. I was so excited. We met up with Michele and drove to Snoqualmie (just half an hour east) and oh...guess what?!? IT'S SNOWING!!! Not sticking, but definitely snowing. We keep telling ourselves that we are crazy and there's no way anyone else is going to show up. But we were still going to run! We sat around for about an hour and a half before the race started (note to self, do not get to the course more than half an hour early!) And people did show up! There were around 500 or so runners, including kids. 

Michele and I right before the race... in the snow!

Here we go!!!

View of the start of the race

Andy's parents came to cheer us on, it was so sweet of them to endure the snow to watch us run. It was really encouraging to have family support. We got in line, and they counted down to the start of the race. I was super excited and nervous. I had to keep telling myself that I need to pace myself... I couldn't start off sprinting, or else I wouldn't be able to run the whole thing. Because that was my main goal - I didn't want to have to stop and walk. And I didn't!!! It was amazing. I was just running along with the snow pelting my face (think back to my mascara and eyeliner, you can just imagine what my face looked like!) But in all honesty, I wouldn't have changed a thing. The snow was a good distraction so I wasn't focused on running and my legs killing. I was a little cold, but once I got running - my face was the only cold thing and I could easily get over that. The course was more hilly than I was expecting, but it wasn't bad at all! I ran up those hills and I don't even remember panting or breathing super heavy. I was just so filled with adrenaline at finally running my first race. Seriously, if you think that you might want to run a 5k - DO IT! Don't be scared...because I really didn't train that much and I was able to do it and enjoy it. 

Post-race (lucky for me...this was after I wiped off my nasty black mascara eyes!)

Andy was such a sweet husband. He was so proud of me and he kept telling me...all throughout the day. It made me feel so good, because I just can't really think of anything that I have done (physically) that Andy has participated in. I set a goal for myself and I achieved it. Here are my stats from the race: Out of 504 finishers, I was 352; I was 28/38 in my age group; 158/261 in the female group; my total pace time was 11:28 and my race time was 35:33! Pretty sweet, huh? And if you wanna see a video of me crossing the finish line - check out Andy's facebook page. 


Now I'm looking forward to my next race! I'm trying to get into a race in May that will be an 8k, but if I don't do that one I have another race in August called the Dirty Dash that Michele and I are going to do. It's more of an obstacle course in the MUD! So freaking excited for that one... I've always wanted to do a messy race. 

What you can expect from the Dirty Dash! Aww Yeah!