March 18th to May 19th - We added 3 more races

A month after Bay City we had a race in Owosso (Losing It Momma's hometown). I was less scared of this one but still had that time in the back of my head. I just had to beat 59.49 min by 5 min.

 The race was much smaller than the one we did in Bay City (compare 4,000+ racers to maybe 150) but still was a great mix of young and old, really fit and well just happy to be getting out there. I started out running with Losing It Daddy but after about a minute we signed "I Love You" and he was off. I decided to start to use trees, mailboxes and houses as markers of how far I would try to get before I would need to walk again. I really needed to push myself and say (sometimes out loud) that I can make it 4 mail boxes or to the next tree. When I got to the first mile the man telling us our times said 17.34. I was doing GREAT! I walk at 21 minutes a mile if I focus. I passed Losing It Daddy as he was completing his loop back to the starting line and made sure he knew I was rooting for him. I can be an embarrassingly loud cheerleader. As I got back to the start/finish line I had Queen Fat Bottom Girls playing on my MP3 player. Of course I started giggling as I ran across that line seeing 54.53 on the time board. I did it! I met my goal of 5 minutes (almost. when I get closer to 30 min 5k's I will care about the seconds, but for now that is close enough to 5 minutes for me).

The following weekend I found a race close by that some friends were going to. Losing It Daddy stayed home with Losing It Kids so I could go. Since it was only a week later I didn't have high expectations. Thanks to the support of a fellow Weight Watcher and Alisha I was able to complete this race with a time of 53.12. Alisha even came back after running to help me the last 1/2 mile. I hated her at the time for getting me to run but I really needed it. She kept telling me I wasn't going to let the walkers in front of me beat me.

A month later (May 19th, 2 months after my first race) we completed my 4th race, Losing It Daddy's 3rd race and we got Losing It Sib Riley to do her 1st race. We were very lucky that it went right in front of our house so we were able to just walk right down to the starting line. This was another large race and family fun day all rolled into one. We were with the 5k runners at 7:55 am, shortly after us at 8:05 went the 10K runners. About a half hour later the 5k walkers and then a few one mile runs were done until 11 am. There was a rock climbing wall, toddler events and much more.

When I started out with Riley I found it to be so much easier than even a month before hand to run. I made it for a minute and half before I sent her on her way (a great soccer player I knew she would have no problem running this race even if it was her first one. completed in 33 minutes) My only goal was not to have a walker catch up to me. I would jog a few more times than I did in Owosso when I was using the mail boxes and was so happy to hear the time of 15:43 minutes at the mile mark. It pushed me to try to run even though I was so afraid I was going to pass out at any moment. In the 2 mile stretch I started to have some side pains that slowed me down. My guess is not enough water before or during the race. I was able to run across the finish line with the time of 49.43. Yes, 2 months later and I was finishing 10 minutes faster. I let the fear inside my head go and listened to my body when I needed to.

 I also learned another lesson. Race photos look better BEFORE the race not AFTER.
 We forgot and well this is what we got:

Now that we are all caught up on races I will be posting the day or two after the race. I have a hometown race June 9th, 2012 (this Saturday) and hope to complete with a time of 47.43 or better. Depending on how I feel the next day I may do another race. I have one very close to home that the money goes to help a camp for kids with cancer. I like them when they are for good causes. Even if all I do is walk, my $15 would be well spent. Again it all depends on how hard I push myself on Saturday.

I hope you find something this week to be proud of yourself for completing. Let me know if you have found an old love or developed a new love for some activity. You truly do gain more energy and it does make you happier just getting out there and trying. Don't let ANYTHING or ANYONE hold you back.

Losing It Momma
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