October 8, 2012

Tulsa Zoo Run 2012

Saturday morning I woke up after a horrible nights sleep.  I knew I wouldn't sleep well and I didn't.  I got up and took a quick shower and got dressed.  I was a a big ball of nerves and my stomach was not feeling well.  Jimmy kept asking what was wrong and nothing was really wrong besides me zoning out and getting into running mode.  We stopped at QT and got some drinks.  I was nauseous and choked down half of a power bar and a few sips of water to have something on my stomach. 
 

We got to the zoo and my parent's were there to cheer me on and also because Kiera was going to leave with them afterwards.  It was a brisk 38-40 degrees out.  I would later find out this was perfect running weather.


At the starting line everyone was excited and was ready to go.  I was ready for it to be over.  It didn't help at one point when I looked to my left and saw a lady that was probably 6'3" with her half mile long legs.  My short legs got slightly depressed then.  At least I remembered to pop some gum into my mouth before the race began which is a necessity for me during any run.

Once we crossed the start line I immediately realized it is so so much easier to run with other people.  It was a great distraction.  3 minutes in there was a man behind me that his watch was beeping and he told the lady he was coaching they could stop or keep running.  I though "Huh, it's been 3 minutes?"  She stopped, I kept going cause I was feeling good.  I remember 3 minutes being a long ways before.  

A while later I passed the 1 mile mark and I got hot so I took my coat off and wrapped it around my waist.  This is when I realized that this was a great temperature to run in.  Yeah my hands and nose were cold at first but that changed.  My nose was even running a little but I just wiped it on my shirt.  Then I hit the 2 mile mark, still running.  That was an exciting moment for me.  First time to run 2 miles continuously.  Then it started raining and sleeting.  I took my first walking break for about 30-45 seconds around a quarter mile later.  Within the last quarter mile I took a couple/few more 20 second breaks since it was UPHILL and the muscle on my left leg near my butt was really tensing up.

Here I am coming around one of the final corners to the finish line.  I even broke out a smile.  Kiera yells at me "Go Ashley Go!" 

Once I had the finish line in sight I picked up the pace as much as I could and had a finishing time of 38:59.  My goal was to run it under 40 minutes and I did just that! 

Afterwards Jimmy took me to get a coffee since that is what I wanted.  

He then took me to lunch at the White River Fish Market since I had never been there before.

We then went home and laid around in our pajamas for a few hours before going to his parents house.  We were both pooped.  Jimmy didn't sleep much the night before either and well you know my excuse.  I am currently very sore but really excited that I actually did it!  

I will definitely be doing another 5k, just not anytime soon!  Oh and I really have no desire to do anything longer than that.  I noticed I get bored, running, and running, and running.  I will just have to work on getting faster in the future 5k's!


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