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I am so happy being married and living with my best friend. We adopted our first child, Ari, in 2011 through a domestic adoption and our second, Jude, in 2014.

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Friday, November 26, 2010

Couch to 5K

Some of you exercise nuts out there may have heard of something called "Couch to 5K".  It's a running program designed to get you from the couch to a 5K in 9 weeks.  Well, today the hubs and I went from the couch to a 5K in less than 24 hours!  Here's how it all happened...

We were watching "The Biggest Loser" on Wednesday night and they were going over some health tips for the Thanksgiving weekend.  They mentioned that most cities have a 5K Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning.  We decided to look it up and see if Tulsa had one.  Sure enough, they were having the Second Annual Tulsa Turkey Trot the day after Thanksgiving!  We thought about doing it, but weren't really sure.  We decided to mention it to some friends of ours who have recently picked up running so that we would have someone to hold us accountable to it.  Once they decided they wanted to do it, there was no backing out!

Now let me tell you, I do not run.  The hubs does not run.  We both exercise, occasionally.  Nothing 100% consistent.  So I really mean it when I say we went straight from the couch to a 5K!  And the race was miserable.  And wonderful.  And really, really awful. haha!  At the very end though, there was this little hill to come down from to the finish line.  With perfect timing, as I reached the top of that hill my iPod started playing "Eye of the Tiger" (I'm serious!).  Combine that with the fact that I could see our friends who came with us yelling my name, I was able to run to the end and finish.  It was an amazing feeling.

All in all, there were a lot more hills than I had expected.  And I ran a lot less than I had expected.  And when I wasn't running, I walked a lot slower than I had expected.  And it took me a lot longer to finish than I had expected (just under 50 minutes).  But I did it.  I got off my butt, got off my couch, and on a complete whim, I completed a 5K with the hubs.  I couldn't be prouder of both of us.  It was a great time!

Our whole group at the race!  Mark, Lori, Mike, me, and Eric

The microchip on our shoes that tracked our time.

Start of the race.

My view from part of the race.

Eric crossing the finish line!

Mark crossing the finish line!

Lori crossing the finish line!

My turn to cross the finish line!

And Mike's turn to cross the finish line!  That's the look of determination right there.

Mike and I afterwards.  Phew, we were tired!

The kiddie pools full of beer and water. haha!

Eric and I enjoying some beer and carbs!

6 comments:

Michael Priest said...

I'm very impressed! Congrats to you both! If this becomes a yearly tradition count me in for next year's!

Lori Connell said...

great post!! Running is a head game..keep your head in it and your body will surprise you!

Danna said...

So very proud of you guys! That's awesome! Next year, we will join you! :o)

Kristi Bowers said...

good for you!! Was it cold? I do not enjoy the cold running. I ran my first 5K last year for the Valentines day one at Mowhawk park and my face FROZE!! Keep going girl!

Vanessa said...

Kristi - It was pretty cold, but once I was running I really didn't even notice at all. In fact, I got so warm in the middle of it that I had to unzip my jacket and take off my gloves! So it wasn't too bad.

Penelope said...

Great job!!!