Proud to Run 5K

Yesterday morning, I ran the Proud to Run 5K that was part of Chicago's Pride weekend. It was the third 5K that I've run in June, and my ninth overall, so I felt more confident going into it than I usually have with other races.

After the race!

The weather didn't work out in my favor during the last two races that I've run, but fortunately, Proud to Run stayed dry! With that issue out of the way, I felt that I could really focus on what mattered, which was trying to set a new PR, or to at least do better than my previous time.

About half an hour before the start time, some trainers from FFC-Halsted led us all in a warm-up stretch. I was dreading the possibility of it being just a simple leg and arm stretching session, and as we were packing into the stage area, I whispered to Ginger, "You know, I could really go for a dance party right about now." Either the FFC people heard me, or I must be psychic, because a dance party is exactly what we got! Sure, there were some parts where we did the basic leg and arm stretches, but more so than that, it was a high-energy and high-intensity warm-up dance routine. It was like Zumba, only with a lot of jumping jacks and "raise the roof" moments thrown in. I almost didn't want it to end, but then I remembered, oh yeah.. I'm actually here to run a 5K.

Welcome!

Welcome to my new running blog!

I started this blog to keep track of my progress as I work towards running my first 10K in August. First, here's a little bit about me:

When I was younger, I never believed that I could run. It was never something that I even tried to do, since I thought that I would only fail at it. Plus, I had knee problems for many years, but instead of trying to work past them, I just gave up before I could even give myself a chance.

Fast forward to May 2011. One of my friends asked me to run a 5K with her, and to be supportive, I said sure. I really thought that I would do the one race and then never think about running again, but of course, I was wrong!

I've done nine 5Ks so far, and I've decided to run a 10K to challenge myself and start pushing myself to run longer distances. This blog will be the story of my running adventures, so thanks for stopping by to read.