February 5k

Saturday was my 5k for the month of February.  If you didn’t already know, I’m doing one community 5k a month for all of 2013 in addition to my obstacle courses and triathlons.

In January, my friend from high school and soccer teammate, Crystal, asked when my next race was, thinking I would say sometime in the spring.  When I said it was in January, she was like, okay, I’m in!  After that race, she said she wanted to join me for the next, so now, I think it might be our thing. 🙂

My husband had the day off so he came with us, camera in tow.

Crystal and I… I am a giant. 🙂

We were nervous about having to run on slush or packed snow.  Road conditions varied a lot on our drive to the run, so we didn’t know what to except.  Luckily, the course was completely clear and salted.  Much appreciated by myself, as I have a huge fear of slipping and falling on my face on ice.

I start near the center of the pack and stayed behind Crystal as I know she’s faster.

I was admiring my bum in this photo last night. Oh yes.

And a second later…

There was a gentle snow fall the whole race, which was very pretty.  We lucked out and it wasn’t windy.  The occasional breeze blew snow from the trees and houses, but it was a pleasant, flat course and fairly nice day despite being about 20°.  Crystal and I both felt like our lungs were icing over.

Crystal coming in for the finish. (I don’t know if she wanted to be on my blog, but that’s the danger of doing an activity with me and allowing photographs.)

After the last turn…

… and an indoor finish.

Doing my final sprint. My general racing strategy is to end up next to people about my speed for most of the race and then sprint ahead of them at the very end. I do this EVERY race. Makes me feel fast, for a second at least.

2 seconds from the finish line.

I ended with my personal best time of 33:35.  I’m really happy with that given that it was the coldest temperature in which I’ve ever ran.  This was my 7th 5k since August.  My slowest time was 37:00.  I’m just going to keep setting small goals.  Next month, I’d like to be under 33 minutes.  I would like to be solidly under 30 minutes by the end of 2013.  That would be amazing.

After the run, I posted this picture on my Facebook.

Go to my Facebook link and share the love!

This is the most comfortable and at ease I have ever felt in my own body.  I love it.  I felt that I needed to share that revelation.  I still have a lot of work to do, but I’m not focusing on how much I weigh anymore.  The number doesn’t matter.  I’m gaining muscle, shedding inches, dropping pant sizes… I thought that I had to get to a certain number before I finally felt happy with myself.  Once I got there, I figured I would stop caring as long as I was getting fit and staying healthy.

I may still weigh 195, instead of 165, but I’m happy (and it’s WAY better than 240).  I know that it is attainable now and I’ll get there.  Slow and steady.