1st 5K completed yesterday

I finished the 5K yesterday! Mission successful. Not only did I finish, I didn't finish last, and I managed to finish just under 50 minutes (49:49) My gps told me my average pace was about 16:02/mile which is much better that I thought I was going to be able to do  since I can't really run yet.

I almost didn't even go - my knees are bothering me, and I have a cold, but somehow managed to get up. My friends who convinced me to sign up ( 400 miles from where I live...) BAILED on me, and didn't come, so I paid for my nephews and sister to join me, thinking it would be nice to not do it alone. Before we started, my nephews gave me the puppy eyes and asked to go to the front (they finished in 30 minutes). My sister stayed with me for all of 3 minutes before she decided she wanted to jog, so I ended up walking alone anyways. It turned out for the better because I got time to think and reflect and enjoy the sunshine. It's nice to have people cheering you on while you exercise! The first 1/4 mile, I was terrified I was going to be last, or I wouldn't be able to finish because of some blister problems or my knees, but as I got warmed up, I felt really strong and was able to keep a decent pace.

Crossing the finish line, having people cheering for you was incredible.  It's a feeling I don't think I could find anywhere else. It was a very proud moment  for me as I set out to accomplish some goals before I have surgery, so it was the symbolic finish line of my goals. I told myself I wanted to make absolutely sure I wanted to have surgery and wanted to convince myself I can be successful at this before I let a doctor start cutting my stomach, and I hit that point. I know now,  I've convinced myself that I can do this. I've lost almost 75 lbs during the pre-op stage, and went from being almost completely sendentary to doing a 5K in about 10 months. It's usually hard for me to  celebrate my accomplishments, but I'm damn proud of my 49:49 time at 346 lbs :) I know it can only improve from this point on.

I'm not very good at this picture thing, so I tried my best. This was a picture from right after the race where two little boys looked more miserable than I did.

Great job, the first one is a great feeling. Many more to come !

So proud of you Alison! You've come such a long way and are doing great! You will be so successful with the surgery, you already are a success.
Congratulations!
Jan

Thank you for your support!!!

Congrats on an awesome job. Not backing out was the best decision someone can make. You haver now proven to yourself that you can do something if you set your mind to it.

Bad news is that if you are like most of us on this board you will have many more races in your future. Well I guess that isn't bad news.

LOL only bad news to my knees at this point :-p

 awesome!  the first of many I am so sure!    This is a PR for you, and you'll keep beating it, so keep signing up for more runs :)  So happy for you!

Absolutely, already looking for the next one :) Thanks!

Alison,
That's a kick-ass time!  Congrats on willing yourself through something new and different for your body. 

I'm sorry about your knees hurting - I hope they improve with your weight-loss (or sooner than that!).  You are setting a wonderful example for your nephews.

You can do hard things!

Congrats to you!

Thanks so much! You are such an inspiration.

The horribly ironic thing about my kneees is that they haven't hurt in months (and i've been exercsing A LOT), but as soon as I signed up for this thing, they started to hurt :-p   I'm praying that weight loss helps with the knee thing (which it should since I've had some x-rays and there's no apparent damage or arthritis).