36:43

This past weekend, Stephanie, Sarah, Melissa, Kayla, and I ran in the RER 5K. It was a first for most of us. RER stands for Rockdale Emergency Relief. They provide services for people in the Rockdale Co area including food and paying for utilities. Our church, CCC, has supported RER for years so I thought it would be a good idea to do this 5K as a first.

If you had told me a year ago that I would be running a 5K this year I would have laughed in your face. However, last fall, I started running a little bit while training with some friends. My goal at the time was to be able to run a mile. And it took awhile to get to that point. But I made it and then didn't run throughout the winter due to the cold and the kids constantly being sick.
I knew that if I was going to progress in my running, I had to sign up for a race. When I saw the 5K in our bulletin I mentioned it to Sarah and Melissa. We decided to do it and started running again. I finally hit 3 miles with Stephanie the Sunday before the race. We ran everyother day that week and had a goal of finishing under 40 minutes. It was tough.

Stephanie, Sarah, Kayla, Me pre-race

At the start
Sprinting to the finish- we decided to sprint at the 3 mile mark.

I had way more energy left than I thought I would

Sarah and me post-race

Post-race

Melissa and Me- post race
Melissa had a nail in her shoe and ended up running with one shoe while someone at a water station removed it for her.

Post race family picture

I think we all enjoyed the race and I actually like running now. I am excited about signing up for some more races to help keep me motivated. I ended up finishing in 36 mins and 43 seconds and 3rd in my age category. I really could not believe it and was super excited. Now my goal is to improve my time. We will see how it goes. Thanks girls for the encouragement and support.