First 5k!

Me, Sandy, and Heidi

Last week I celebrated being 40 pounds down from the beginning of the year! I am really happy with my progress! Thanks to the tools and advice on SparkPeople and my great husband who has been so supportive of healthy meals and getting out and exercising more, I'm certain I can meet my goal to be 60lbs down by the end of the year. There's still more to lose after that, but that's a great start.

I am still working my way through the Couch to 5K running program, and today I had my first 5K race. I signed up for it months ago, and I wish I'd have known I was going to pull a muscle in the back of my leg last week playing tennis, because I would rather have not done this today. But it wasn't so bad, and after I got warmed up it didn't bother me much. I couldn't run far though, so this turned out be a 5K walk.

My friends Sandy (one of our 4H moms) and Heidi (from our theater group) also signed up, so we could walk/run together. The race was in Yacolt, WA, which is a tiny town right up the road from me, for their 4th of July celebration. We got there and there weren't a lot of folks there, which was nice because I hate crowds. By the time the race started there were maybe 100 runners - probably more like 50. Lots of friendly volunteers helping. The race was out and back on country roads. It was a beautiful sunny day, not too cold, not too hot.

At the finish line!

I think we finished in 47 minutes. Heidi and I walked at the same pace, so that made the race go faster and took my mind off my pulled muscle. The organizers had water along the way and snacks (like fruit and bagels) waiting at the end. All in all, I was really happy with my time, and I'm looking forward to doing one again - hopefully one I can RUN next time! It's really not that long a distance (3.1 miles) so there's no reason why I can't get to the point of running that far.That's one nice thing about getting in shape, there's always something to work towards.

Yay - survived my first 5k! Still Smilin'!

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