First 5K!!!

I did it! 

I completed my first 5K!  Yay!

My goals were to run the entire race without stopping and to NOT pass out.  Both accomplished!  It was such a great feeling!  Eric was such a great coach and has been working with me for the past few weeks to get me ready.  I am certainly not a natural runner.  No, no, no!  If you had told me this time last year that I would have ran in a 5K today, then I would have laughed.  Big time. But back in November I very gradually began adding a little running to my walking.  With Eric's encouragement (and much help with getting my breathing under control), I built up my endurance and actually started enjoying running. 

Prior to the today, the most I had ever run without stopping was two miles.  Eric was sure that the racing environment and energy would be enough motivation to propel me across that finish line.  That, along with much praying during the race, did the trick.

After mile number three, we rounded the corner and saw the finish line.  Eric grabbed my hand, which was a good thing, because my legs were almost finished working.  It felt like he was carrying me to the finish line.  We crossed it in 30:34, running a 9.78 mile pace.

Not too shabby for my first 5K!

And it was really sweet that Eric hung with me at my pace the entire race to encourage me, when he could have run it much faster on his own. 

See, Awesome coach!