My personal best.

I am proud to say that I am almost finished with my 4th week of the Couch to 5K program. And I am even more proud to say that I completely disregarded the running schedule and ran my first 5K last weekend! (That would be 5 weeks ahead of schedule, thank you very much!)

:: my step-dad, Pop, me, and the Golfer on the morning of our run ::

Now don't go thinkin' that I've become some exercising overachiever because I haven't. But this was a run that I just couldn't pass on.

Every 4th of July, we head down to Coronado Island for the festivities. My Mom and Pop have a condo there and so along with the celebrating the holiday, we get to spend some quality time with our family. Coronado is an awesome military community--there's a Naval base on the island, complete with hunky Navy SEALs running on the beach! The patriotic parade rivals any in the country. So when I remembered that there was a 5K on the 4th on Coronado which is a very flat and small island, I jumped at the chance to run.

Okay, maybe I didn't jump. But I did sit at my computer and get very excited.

I talked the Golfer and Pop into running with me and conned my mother into getting up at 6 AM to watch the boys. I think they all knew how much I needed to do this run because luckily it didn't take much convincing.

I had no expectations going into this run. I fully expected that I would be stopping several times throughout the run to walk. But then the gun went off and something happened. I got totally swept away by all of the running enthusiasm. Suddenly I was at mile 1 and hadn't stopped--didn't even feel the need!

I can do this. I thought to myself. I can do this. I can run this whole damn thing without stopping.

Being married to a coach I know all about self-talk and having a winner's attitude. I just have never personally experienced it first hand. So I just kept talking to myself (which isn't really that much of a stretch for me.)

I can do this. I'm gonna do this because I know how good I'll feel if I do. I can run this whole damn thing without stopping.

And then I had to pee.

At about a mile and a half I felt the urge. Most 5K people can run the whole way and never stop to pee. But this newbie had drunk a lot of water before the race (and a little wine the night before) so I needed to go. And I wasn't about to pee on myself.

Lucky for me there were some port-o-johns right on the trail. I've never peed so fast in my life. It wasn't so much that I was worried about wasting time, is was that I didn't want to stop for too long in fear that I wouldn't be able to start again.

I came out of the john running. I felt like such a stud.

At about mile 2 1/2 the Golfer and I separated a little. His pace was just a little faster than mine, but I waved him on. I figured all along that he would get ahead of me a little, I mean he is an athlete after all.

But I was bound and determined more than ever.

I can do this. I can run this whole damn thing without stopping.

There was a little girl in front of me, jogging along next to her daddy. In most situations I would think, "That's so sweet." But not this day. All I could think was, "There's no way. I'll be damned if I'm gonna let some 7 year-old beat me." So I passed her. Take that cute little girl with your daddy.

And then I passed the man with the prosthetic leg. And then the woman carrying her purse.

Yeah, I was on a roll.

And before I knew it, I could see the finish line. I'm not gonna lie, it was pretty emotional. I wanted to scream, "I'm doing it!" But I figured the hundreds of people that finished ahead of me might laugh.

Instead I saw the Golfer, clapping with his hands up in the air, cheering me on. Because he, more than anyone, knew what a big deal this was for me. And then I blew past him and tried not to cry.

My results:

5k
Runner Details Race Results
Bib: 1956
Name: Stephenie Freeman
Gender: F
Age: 37
Hometown: Valencia, CA
Overall: 699 out of 964
Women: 391 out of 581
F 35-39: 39 out of 63
Age/Grade: 40.97% Place: 700
Finish: 36:50 Pace: 11:52
Tag Time: 36:50
Gun Time: 37:30
My personal best.