Crazy Mama RAN!!!!!!!!!! The First Race in 2 YEARS!

Yes, you read right. I RAN on October 24th!

A while back I signed up for the BLT 5km Fun Run/Walk out in Timberlea, Nova Scotia. I needed to sign up for something to keep me going, and decided 5km was a good start.

This run is an out and back from the BLT Elementary School and most of the run is on a gravel trail. This trail is super familiar to me because I have done many runs on this trail prepping for races in the past.

I did my mini carb load the night before (hello PIZZA!) and carried myself off to bed after midnight (oops).

I had no problem waking up. None. Excitement/Adrenaline had me awake well before my alarm went off!

Got myself some oatmeal, coffee and sat down to plan the race outfit de jour 🙂

It was chilly, so layers were in order. Not too many though. Pants for sure.

I dressed right away so I had no time to overthink anything.

I arrived early enough to pick up my race kit and ran into some of my friends, including Peter, who was volunteering 🙂 I also ran into my PT from knee surgery recovery, lol. What are the odds??

Peter was excited to see me running again!**

I stayed inside the school and waited with some of the other runners until it was close to “go time” because it was chilly.

Then, out I went.

And stood mid pack.

Talked to my Twitter FitFam friend Myles and his lovely wife for a minute, just to shake the growing anxiety and remind myself that I AM A RUNNER, lol.

Then, the voice from the loudspeaker made the announcements, I was surrounded by runners, heard the word “GO” and off we went!

There I am – Top Far Right! GO AMY GO!!!!!!!!!!

Now, previous races, I would have shot out of there like a cheetah. But, having learned from this lesson (during the Valley Harvest 10km where I went out like a cheetah and wanted to barf my guts out halfway), I just kept a nice slowish pace to get myself warm.

I caught up to Myles’ lovely wife just after 1km and we ran for a bit until her walk break.

Then, I was SOLO.

I picked up my pace a bit and passed a few people. Stopped for a minute because I picked it up a little more than I should, lol. Then I decided to find someone that had a decent pace (by feel) and stayed a bit behind them for the next couple of kms.

I reached the turnaround point feeling good.

Then I saw the 3km marker and lost it.

Tears.

I had the moment I though I would have at the end. The “HOLY CRAP I AM RUNNING IN AN EVENT” moment.

3km.

But crying and running don’t really mix, mostly because you can’t see, so I stopped for a minute, wiped my eyes and kept going.

The last km has a hill. BLECH.

I walked up that hill.

Because ME.

And then, the last 500m I put the pedal to medal and came in like a FREAKING GAZELLE: