My First 5K

About 5o days ago, I started Body by Vi. Since starting Body by Vi (Shape Kit), I have lost 9 pounds, earned $70, and trained to run a 5k. Needless to say, Body by Vi has helped me begin a healthier lifestyle that's pretty easy to follow. If you want more information (even though no one reallllly reads my posts), you should check out my website http://www.chelseacollins74.bodybyvi.com. It has a kit that fits different goals, and it really does taste like cake.

 Anyway! Today, I ran my first 5K. For those of you who don't know how long that is, it is relatively short compared to most races. It's 3.1 miles....a race for beginners. I decided during spring break (about five weeks ago) that I was going to run a 5K. Now, you should know right now that Chelsea Collins is not a runner. She is not an athlete. She is a nerd that likes to SIT on her couch and READ romance novels about damsels in distress. I was not a runner in high school. I didn't even play SPORTS. I wrote about sports in the local newspaper. I was that kid. Nobody really cared, because no one wanted slow, asthmatic me on their team....and I really was slow!

Back to the present. I started training at the walking track in Sturgis and the treadmill at school by powerwalking. I talked the bestie, Amy Bowling, into joining me on this (at the time) ridiculously short-termed goal. She told me about an app called MapMyRun, which times and measures how far you go, how many calories you burned, your average pace, etc, etc. After I downloaded that app, things really picked up. Somewhere along the line (I'm not quite sure when), I stopped doing the treadmill and track thing, and I branched out to different terrain. I walked around my school (which has a sort of steep hill by the band hall), around my school's town, and around my town. When I started during Spring Break, my time for three miles was 60 minutes. After three weeks of training, my time was 45 minutes. After four weeks of training, it was 41 minutes. I started running a lot more and walking a lot less, but I was still walking most of the time. However, my goal wasn't to be the fastest runner at the race. I wanted to a) finish the race and b) not come in last!

 I woke up this morning at 5:15, which is amazing for me on a Saturday because I don't even get up that early on a workday. I got to the Natchez Trace Festival at 7:15 and got my packet. It was so silly how excited I was to pin on my number. I felt so official. I warmed up, met up with Amy and her boyfriend, and Alex's cousin, Rebecca, and we all went to the starting line. The man said go....and we went. And went. And went. I admit, I was probably the first runner who started walking. I had never started my daily 3.1 mile run actually running. I always walked for a minute or two. I felt like a huge loser when a woman who had to be at least seventy passed me, so I started running again. I found Amy walking a little later, who had been left behind by Nathan. Shame on him (just kidding, Nathan). By the time Amy and I had reached the 1.25 mile marker, Nathan was on his way back to the finish line. However, he decided to do the gentlemanly thing and turned around to run with Amy to the 1.5 mile marker and finish the race with her. We may pause for a moment to say aweeeee. He ended up pushing us to run A LOT more than we wanted to until we were almost to the finish line. They finished a minute before me because I kept slowing down to a walk, since the last stretch is a gigantic hill....a slowly sloping, calf killing hill. My time was 38 minutes and something seconds, but it was DEFINITELY under 39 minutes.

So I shaved 4 minutes off of my best time, AND I did not come in last. I'm not exactly sure what happened in the following moments. I was so tired and zoned out....I just remember all the sudden finding myself eating a banana and drinking Gatorade. I'm going to attach some pictures, of course. I can't wait until my next 5K. The feeling of finishing it was amazing. My new goal is to get it down to thirty minutes! :) Wish me luck!

Alex and I after the race. <3

Amy and I after the race...This was actually after I called Nike Shorts "diaper pants" so, this is "take one".

These are out of order, but this is Amy and I before the race.

This is "take two". No diapers mentioned.

Amy and Nathan (who ended up getting third in his age group's division) post-race

Rebecca, Alex's cousin, won overall in the women's division. Hard core!

Love always,
Chelsea Leann.

And, as always, thank you, Alex, for reading my blog. You're the best boyfriend ever.