Jingle Bell 5K Run

After running my first 5K, I had the race fever & had to register for another.  This time, I got Bry to run it with me.  We registered for the Jingle Bell 5K for Arthritis and honestly, I didn’t even get to property train for it.  The time spent between the first 5k and this one was dedicated to interviewing and landing a full-time job.  So, when I got to the Jingle Bell run, I knew there was no way it was going to be a PR race.  (& it wasn’t).

Bry and I rolled out of bed around 7am (much later than the first 5k).  First off, I was extremely excited to put on the socks I purchased from Target a few weeks ago!

We left the house around 8:30 to drive the 20 minutes to the local community college that was hosting the event.  We were very grateful that we were able to wait inside– No freezing my legs off this time!  They had a costume contest for the best holiday outfits.  There was a set of twin newborns in Santa onesies.  So CUTE!  Sometimes I think that parents look at me weird because I freakishly stare at their children.

This race had a lot less runners and walkers than the Race for Hope.  I think I actually liked it better with less people.  The energy wasn’t nearly as electrifying as the Race for Hope, but I enjoyed the home-town feel of it all.

My music for the run was the Chris Brown station on Pandora. I would have listened to the Holiday music, but most of it was too slow & wouldn’t pump me up. Therefore kids, I was listening to censored hip-hop. WOO. Nothing like pretending your a backup dancer for Chris Brown.

The first mile was terrible. It was mostly all uphill, and I actually thought about walking the rest of the way. I hated myself for pretending I could run a 5K without training, and I even questioned how much I loved running. It’s like dancing. The first time I had to be recorded for a dance class in college, I looked at myself on the big projector and thought, “oh my god, I am so terrible.” Granted, I was no where near terrible, but I did see first hand how much harder I had to work toward being as flexible as all the gummy-leged dancers at my school. When I think about how running is so new to me, I have to remember, “of course I’m not going to be amazing at it right away.”

The 2nd and 3rd mile were a lot easier than the first. I got a surge of energy someplace around mile 3, and I knew that I might actually be able to finish in under 31 minutes. I made a friend during the last .1 mile. I looked over to her and said, “Almost there!” We ran the rest of the way together, and I later found out that her goal was the same as mine: finish a 5K in under 30 minutes.

My Nike+ app on my phone must have lost signal while we were running through the state park, because when I finished it read only 2.90 miles. Weird. My unofficial time ended up being 30:40. Note: I wasn’t even expecting to finish anywhere close to that time.

When I crossed the finish line, I was barely able to breathe. I actually think that I need an inhaler. My chest felt tight and it kind of tasted like I was swallowing blood — I wasn’t.

Overall, the run was good. I liked the course a lot (minus the enomous hill the first mile). We ran through a state park and near a river. It was nice and peaceful. When we finally emerged from all the trees, we ran a straight away toward the college. There was nothing surrounding us besides grass and the sunshine. It was pure bliss.

Do you have exercised-induced asthma? If so, how did you get tested for it?