Cross It Off

Yesterday, I read Megan’s blog, read the first line and put my head on my desk and moaned, “YES!”  I feel crazy busy.  But, more crazy busy as in…I’m at work (healthcare is always busiest in December)and DC calls me and says his temp is 102 and he needs something, so I page an on call Dr. and have to wait for him to call, then he has to call the Dr. who saw Dev earlier yesterday, then I have to wait for the on call to have the time to write a script, then I have to meet the man somewhere in the hospital to get the script, then I have to get DC’s insurance card, drop the script, go get dinner, get the script, go home and get DC everything he needs to eat and take meds and everything and by the time I sit down, it’s almost 9.  It has been go go go all week.  I kind of like that though.  And I would do anything for him to be feeling even slightly better very soon.  We’re going on day 7 of him feeling like caca.  Prayers appreciated.

Why did I tell you all of that?

Let’s get down to the post I should have put up on Monday when I was sick and near death and without internet.  This will be a long one.  Like seriously long.

This weekend, I did something on my list of 27 things to do before I am 27!  I think, to a lot of people, this may not be a big deal and I have a feeling that a LOT of you might even laugh a little, or a lot, at this.  But, I did something I never thought I would do and I really had to work at it, and I am pretty happy about it.

On Saturday morning, I ran my first 5K!

Backtrack to when I decided to do this…I had just made my list and decided that if I was going to do it, I would need to get to work.  (Quick sidenote- I had never ever run outside, really.  Ever.  Like…do you understand I hated running and though I could ride a good 2 hours on a bike with DC, I did not like to run.  So, I consulted my running hero, Kristan “I will smoke you” Lucas and we found the Runner’s World beginner program) I picked a 5k about 6 weeks from when I made my list and thought, “Oh, December in Houston is never that cold”.  Could I BE any more wrong???  Saturday morning when the race started, it was 26 degrees and there was snow on the ground.  This does not occur in Houston unless I unusually plan something.  Then, God sends the blizzards.  See?!  This is why you should not plan things.

Anyway, my hero of a husband came out and braved the cold with me so he could take some pictures and cheer me on.  I’m pretty sure going to the run is the reason he is still sick.  I rule.

Probably the least flattering picture of me from the morning.  Oh, wait, no…we’ll get to those running pictures soon.  Here I am doing my hair, because it’s all about how good your hair looks.  Actually, I think I was stalling getting out of the car.  You don’t understand how cold it was.  I went into the NON HEATED building to get my chip before the run and I told a woman I thought my liver was frozen to my ribs.  I think Houstonians are missing, like, a layer of skin or something.  We do not like to be this cold.

Dev wanted to walk around about an hour before the run and look around.  I was so cold and wearing everything I own (including my new tights that DC bought me for “yay for first race ever” day.  Love him.) sorta like when Joey wore all of Chandler’s clothes

But it was really pretty out there.

The day before the run, it had snowed pretty much all day, so when we got to the race, they said they had to change the course.  I was a little bummed because now instead of running through trails in a park, we ran on the road the entire run.  Lameskis, but I guess I prefer that to running in slush.

This was the beginning of the course just past the starting line.  Dev pointed out that this may be one of the only times I get to do a run with snow all over the ground.  It was so, so, so pretty

Warming up before starting

Thank goodness the Clauses were there to lead the National Anthem.  Dev, your best picture to date.  It makes me laugh incredibly hard.

Bang!  We’re off.  This is where I will say I cannot explain any facial expressions from here to the end of the run.  As Dr. Colleen Walsh, Medicine Woman says, if you look good in a race photo, you’re not trying hard enough.

This is my official race photo

I look so mad.

And just like that,

I was done!

Post-race

That is all man, people.

FAIL.

There’s my biggest fan…getting sicker by the second.  I got him out of there fast only to find out I actually got first in my age group and would have gotten an award and some podium action.  Next time.

There you have it- my first race and on the road to addiction.  I have really, really loved getting into running, but I never would have done it if Devin didn’t tell me I could.  In fact, in 8 short months of being married to him, Devin has taught me heaps of things I didn’t know about myself.

My incredible OV06 friends were seriously amazing support.  I probably asked them 469 running questions in a span of 6 weeks. 

Most of all, I learned so much about myself that I didn’t know.  And once I decided to just let God do with me what I didn’t think I could do myself, He taught me a lesson or two.

I’m done with my acceptance speech.

I already signed up for my next 5K on January 17th at the Chevron Houston Marathon to see if I can improve my time.  And a marathon relay with 5 other girls in May.  So maybe that 10k isn’t so crazy anymore…