St. Pattrick - Bay City (the beginning)

Bay City, Michigan in March has to be the biggest highlight to look forward to after Christmas. In years past it was all about the beer and parade for me. I would watch the crazy people who would get up on a Sunday morning to run down the middle of Center Rd and think "why on Earth would you run 3 miles in the cold and not have a horde of zombies after you!?!?!" Really it made no sense to me. Even as I signed up to do it this year I was thinking I had lost my mind. I figured I would run (lets face it I knew I wouldn't RUN but walk) the race and then be done. I just wanted to be able to say I did it.

We got a surprise this year from Mother Nature and the normally 30 - 40 degree weather was replaced by 80 - 90 degree sunny skies.

I was so nervous. I thought about what other people would think about this heavy woman trying to run. I thought about how was I going to finish 3.1 miles. I also thought of parking since I have seen the mess this race can be with all the people. Once I was there and I saw the people who were all racing I calmed down some. There were A LOT of people doing 5K running, 5K walking and 10K running. I think the number was around 4,000 people.

Once Losing It Daddy and I found a parking spot we then had to figure out where to pick up our bib (the number we wear with the computer chip in it to make sure the time we cross the lines is accurate) and shirts. After a bit of walking around we found the building and picked up our things. It was then time to go to the start and we headed to the back of the runners but the front of the walkers (walkers started a few minutes after runners). We were chatting and found someone who was also as scared as I was. The plan of signing up as a runner was to run some and then walk. It was refreshing to know we were not alone in this plan.

When we started moving up to the starting line I told myself I would jog as far as I could and then just walk the rest. I was able to jog for 30 seconds and then Losing It Daddy was off. I decided I did as much as I could and walked with the person I met at the starting line. She walked faster than I normally do so I had to really push it to keep up with her. We chatted and gave each other support while cracking jokes. The sidelines was filling with people watching the runners and getting ready for the parade that would happen a few hours later. The weather really helped bring out the spectators. A huge boost of confidence happened and I really felt I could do this. It didn't matter what others thought.

When I saw the finish line I wanted to run across it. I was able to get across with a time of 59 minutes. I had a bunch of those walkers pass me but that didn't matter. That was their journey and mine got me to push myself.

In the car ride home Losing It Daddy (who did the race in 45 min BTW) and I talked about how much fun it was. The sense of accomplishment we both had was almost overwhelming. We decided then and there to sign up for one race a month until September. When I got home I started figuring out when and where we would be able to take a few hours to compete. I set a goal of finishing the next 5K at 55 minutes.

Have you ever done something that you thought you could never do? Remember that drive. It will keep you going and get you pass those challenges that will pop up along the road to your goal. You can do it as long as you think you can.