Bucket List: Run a 5K...check!

Last year, when I could barely move from the bed to the couch to the bathroom, etc, I said, "Next year, let's run a 5K!" And we all laughed.  I am not a runner.  I never have been.  If I had hit a homerun, I doubt if I could've run all the way around the bases without nearly collapsing.  So Spencer thought my statement was more than funny.

In the middle of the summer, when Emily was still living in Virginia, she told me that she had a secret desire to run a 5K and that she had started running in Virginia.  I was so excited because I'd found a running partner.  I told her that if she wanted to start training when she moved back home, I would train with her.  Then I told Spencer and Em told Jeff and by the time they had moved back, both Jeff & Spencer decided that they would join us in our adventure and we were all anxious to start training.  We only had 8 weeks until our race so we started training immediately.  We had heard about the online website "Couch to 5K" but it was a 9 week program so we used a similar program that I got through Weight Watchers.  The first day we ran 1 minute, then walked 1 minute, ten times.  That was hard!  But we kept going.  Our last day before the race we ran 20 minutes, walked 1 minute, then ran 20 minutes again.  We kept each other motivated and celebrated every success!  Spencer was always much faster than the rest of us.  As we trained, we would each go at our own pace.  Then at the appropriate time, we'd just turn around and run back to where we had parked our cars.  It worked for us because we'd begin and end together and we really strengthened our relationships through this process.

I took this with my cell phone on one of the first days of training.  This was the one & only time we took the babies & their double-stroller.  Cam babysat for us every other time!  He is awesome!

We started looking for 5K to sign up for.  We had a few qualifications for our first "race."

• Must be FREE.  I didn't want to spend money on something if I wasn't 100% sure we'd be ready for.  I'm cheap, what can I say?
• Must get a T-Shirt to prove we'd accomplished our goal.  (Honestly, we had to pay for the shirt but it was only $6 and with Free registration, I was happy to pay.)
• Must be a run for something I believe in.  I didn't just want to sign up for a race, I wanted it to have meaning.  We found a Breast Cancer run...which we are all passionate about since my mom's a SURVIVOR!
• Must be able to push a stroller.  Emily pushed Miley in her stroller every single training run.  She wanted Miley to be there with her when she crossed the finish line. 

All of our qualifications were fulfilled in the "Making Strides Against Breast Cancer" 5K in Downtown SLC.  What we didn't realize when we signed up was that, although it was called a 5K, it was actually closer to 5 miles!  It was also an event that anyone could do.  In fact, most people walked.  

Em & I before the race.

Spence & I before the race.

Running in Honor of our mom...Jane Tew

Miley & Emily

Natalie, Spencer, Jeff, & Emily before the Race.  (It was cold!)

Emily & I decided that we would run for 20 minutes and then walk for a minute or two and then we could run again.  But when the 20 minute timer went off, I felt great and didn't want to stop.  So I kept running.  Then I started setting small goals in my mind, "I'll run for 5 more minutes," or "I'll run until the next intersection," or "I start walking when I pass that person."  But as each mini-goal would come and go, I'd just keep running.  It felt so good to know that I could do it! And I ran the entire (almost) 5 miles!  Of course, Spencer finished before any of the rest of us.  He was able to run the entire course as well.  Then he got our camera and took pictures of Emily & I while we were still running and at the finish line.  

It looks like I'm walking but I wasn't...just dragging a little after running for 45 minutes!  Em looks cute though!

Our silly husbands, posing of course!

After the race!

Once again, I look really dumb but I was overjoyed that we both RAN the entire thing!

Em was behind me most of the race.  That's me!

Run a 5K...check!

I am so proud of our accomplishment.  I remember hearing other people say that if you started a running program, you'd be hooked.  I never believed them.  But it's TRUE!  We are toying with the idea of doing a half-marathon in the spring.  We'll see!

I must give a huge shout out to my in-laws who came to our house early, before 7 am, and babysat the children.  Our race would not have been possible without them.  Thanks Dave & Tisa!

If you run, you are a runner.

It doesn't matter how fast or how far.

It doesn't matter if today is your first day or if you've been running for twenty years.

There is no test to pass, no license to earn, no membership card to get. 

You just run.

~John Bingham, running writer and speaker