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| Blaze and me before the race. Of course the horse blanket came along too. |
Let me preface this with a little background on my running relationship.
It's non-existent because we signed the divorce papers a LONG time ago and reconciliation is a long shot.
When I was younger, the first thing on my body to grow was my feet. I had size 11 shoe in 3rd grade!
To top off my freakishly large feet, I was tall and didn't have an ounce of body fat.
My my my... how things have changed.
To say that I was awkward is the understatment of the decade.
So when I ran, or tried to, it looked like I had flippers on.
Needless to say, I would rather walk across hot coals than run because of my deep-seeded hatred for running. It made me look even more goofy than I was as a child. Thanks running, for scarring me for life....'preciate it.
Last year, Ashleigh (my childhood buddy) and I decided to enter ourselves in to our first Zoo Run 5k at the Fort Worth Zoo with our boys.
Ashleigh is a good runner. Always has been and probably always will be. I remember in high school when we had to run miles in basketball, she was usually the first one done.
Me, I was the one that my team mates finished and ran back to where I was to push me to the finish cheering me on saying, "Push it, Kaci! You can do it!" I wanted to punch them all in the face when they would do that. I mean that with the most sincerity possible.
So when I heard about the Zoo Run I had somewhat of an inner struggle with the idea. The running part I disliked but the raising money for the zoo and all the animals part was the kicker.
I'm a big softy when it comes to animals. Even if it means conquering my most hated pasttime.
I thought it would be a cool tradition for Blaze, Ashleigh, Noah (Ashleigh's boy), and myself to have as well. We would run the Zoo Run every year and we would walk away knowing that we did something good for the Earth and the conservation of animals and education.
And I thought that maybe since the rest of my body has caught up to my feet, and then some, that running would come a little easier now.
This "fun run" (what a ridiculous name) starts off by the front of the zoo, you run all the way around to the back, run through the zoo out into a neighborhood behind the zoo that involves hills that I swear are 90 degrees upwards and back around to where you started.
Last year, while pushing my stroller, I thought that I would flat line right in the middle of the thousands of people there. I had a vision of me tripping in slow motion with my chin crashing on the pavement and me flailing all about, flatlining and then everyone would just run over the top of me like I was roadkill. BUT I finished. I waked ALOT but I did finish.
For the last mile, I told Ashleigh, "Just go ahead, you don't have to wait on me anymore." I felt bad that she would be smoking me and then stop and run in place while I caught up.
I'm pretty sure she finished a good 15 minutes ahead of me. Of course I sprinted across the finish line like I had been maintaining that speed the whole time.... Oh geez! I crack myself up!
THIS year though I figured I would be at an advantage, or maybe that Ashleigh would be at a disadvantage, because she just had her second child in January. I thought to myself, "Oh that will slow her down to my speed, I hope."
I was thinking that I would fair better this year too because of my kickboxing classes that I have been half-ass attending have provided SOME cardio in my life.
When the race started, there was 2,663 people that entered into the race and it took us a solid 8 minutes to even GET to the starting line. People were everywhere.
As soon as we could break out of the crowd enough to run we did. I thought to myself, "Self, just keep going. Don't wuss out like you did last year."
We made it to the back of the zoo and I was still running! I stopped to walk WAY before that last year.
We made it throught the zoo where you go out into the neighborhood AND I WAS STILL RUNNING!!!! WAHOO!!!
If it wasn't for the people that have no 5k etiquette and line up across the whole course and walk, I would have still have been running but instead of running people over with my stroller, I counted to 10 before I screamed and waited until I could get around those sweet little powder puffs!
We finished the 5k in about 45 minutes. Not too shabby!
All in all, I would say that I ran about 60% of the 5k and I think that is pretty darn good for a girl that is out of shape and dislikes running with a fiery passion.
Hopefully next year, I can keep improving. My goal is to eventually make it through one without stopping one time.
The most important part is that I did it, I finished, I'm alive, and all my vitals signs have returned to normal! Sweet!
To all of you people that are natural runners, I'm jealous. Oh so very jealous!
Peace out my little chicken dumplins!
-Kaci
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| We made it! Blaze tooks THRILLED! |
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