Valentine Run & Still training

On Sat Feb 6th I ran a 5K (which is 3.1 miles) in a Valentine Race down in Green Bay WI. It was about 18 F but with all the wind it put it down around 1 F. We had to wait around for the race to start which was a bit strange to me since when Allison & I run at 5:30 am we just hit the road right away. So waiting around for the race to start was cold & slightly annoying to me. There were over 1,400 people in the race which also threw me for a loop. I don't like being around that many strangers & it actually makes me a little nervous so I was really happy that I was with friends. When the race finally started it was crazy. There were many people that blew by us but Allison & I still had to weave back & forth through people until we found a spot that we could sort of maintain our space. It seemed that we still had our fair share of weaving though. There were more hills than we were used to but we did really great & out of the 900+ people that were running the 5K we placed somewhere in the 400's. I thought that was really cool & we also dropped our time from about 45 mins to something like 38mins. As you can tell I am NOT a number person (I leave that for Adam LOL). Near the end I could see 2 little kids & an adult from far away & was pretty sure it was my sister, nephew, & niece waiting to cheer me on. As I got closer I could tell for sure it was them & it gave me the goosebumps & the energy I needed to keep going to finish the race. I could hear the kids yelling, "Go Auntie Jet, Go!" It was a great feeling to have them cheering me on & put a HUGE smile on my face as I crossed the finish line with my friend. We received a waxed cheese mold & a candy bar as well as a long sleeve t-shirt for running the race. It was awesome to finish my first 5K with such improvements since I started this new journey just 6 weeks prior to the race. When I started I can honestly say that I had only run a 1 mile in high school & I barely was able to do that & that was when I was a lot thinner & in better shape than I am now. BUT with the encouragement of my family & friends, I was able to learn to breathe correctly & run almost the entire 3.1 miles. My friends have been trying to get me to commit to a half marathon but that isn't going to happen any time soon. I will run another 5K or even the 5 mile race in July so that's what I'm aiming for now. If I can make it 3.1 miles I figure I can make it 5 miles. And now my kids want to train with me when the weather gets nice so they can run too. Adam used to run cross-country in high school so I don't imagine getting him to run along with us would be hard. I think it would be neat to have that be one of our accomplishments as a family...to run a 5 mile race together. Such a great way to teach our children the importance of being healthy & making healthy choices in the things we eat & the activities we do. What a blessing this has been & continues to be.