Finally ran my 1st-ever 5K!!

I DID IT!!! I'll blame excitement for my delay in writing about this incredible achievement in my life: having ran my 1st-ever 5K race! I'm still kind of on cloud 9 about the experience! It took me 33.50 mins to finish the 3 mile run on Saturday, August 21st. That wasn't fast enough for me to win anything, but I was so excited to have completed the race! I'm still running and I'm even about to start training for a Half Marathon! I'm going to give myself at least four months to prepare. Throughout my short running experience I've found that I do better when I'm training for something rather than just running every morning. So, stay tuned to read about my quest to run 13.1 miles! :)

I've finally ran 3 miles!!!

WOW! I'm finally at the point in my training where I can run 3 miles!! I did it for the first time Thursday morning, I actually ran close to 3.5 miles that day!!! It took me 40 mins (I know that's a bad time), but I was so proud of myself. I keep track of my time/miles with an Ap on my cell phone. I didn't even realize I had ran over 3 miles until I got to the end. It used to be that I would constantly check my status on the phone.

This morning I ran a different route than the one I did on Thursday. This one had steeper hills and actually finished with a better time than I did on Thursday!! YAY!!!!! :D Man, I can remember how I was running on the treadmill in the beginning of my training, pushing my hardest to run for 90 straight seconds. Now, I'm running at least 35 mins straight and I feel as though I could go longer! I'm so excited about this and am eager to keep it going.

The best lesson I've learned from running is how important it is to have a positive-self-talk. In other words, you have to really concentrate to combat the negative thoughts that come into your head about how you can't do it and immediately speak encouraging words to yourself. The power of life and death lies in the tongue!

5K countdown & life ;)

17 days. In 17 days I will line up with dozens of other people in Charlotte to run in my first ever 5K! Wow, who'd of thunk it? Me, running in a 5K race. I'm so excited! I still have some training to do. I talked to my father, who has ran in a half-marathon, and he gave me some pretty good advice. He said, "For this first race, just run to finish it and don't worry about the time because the speed will come with time." That was comforting. I've been beating myself up so much for not being as fast as I feel I should be that I've almost missed the joy of just running and knowing that I'm taking care of myself!

So, I'm still training, but I'm working hard not to hear a ticking clock in my head as I run. On Saturday, August 21st at 8:00 a.m., I will start this race and I know I will finish it and I'm going to be so proud of this accomplishment in my life! :D