#stillnotarunner

{that title is for you, Hayden!}

I ran my first 5K ever on May 5, 2013. I finished it in 30:15. I went home, showered, dried my hair, and fell asleep on my couch for about four hours.

That was the day that I realized that even though I might not be able to run an entire 5K, I could at least complete it in a respectable time with a combination of jogging/walking. It didn't matter that I was exhausted afterwards because what mattered is that I did it.

Was that the day that my need to run in 5Ks was born?

I don't think it was.

There was a small spark there but it wasn't anything sustainable.

What fanned that small spark was all of the support, intentional & unintentional, provided by my friends and family. 

So... after racing in nine 5Ks over the last 7 months...

{via}

Thank you to every single one of my friends that has run in a 5K with me. Just signing up for the 5K with me held me accountable to following through with the race & showing up to run. It doesn't matter if it was one time or six times, it helped & I appreciate it.

A huge thank you especially to Jessie (4) & Corbett (6) who ran in the most 5Ks with me. It's hard to stay away from a race when you have two people you work with emailing back and forth about different 5Ks to sign up for. It's easy to sign up for a race when you know at least two other people who will sign up for it with you. 

& thanks to everyone else along the way who had encouraging words & thumbs up & high fives for me each step of the way.

If you had told me on New Year's Eve last year that in 2013 I would run in nine 5Ks in the next year... I would have asked what you were drinking. I'm not even sure I believe it now. But out of everything from this past year, all of the running is what I am the most proud of, especially this race.

Although now I have to wonder where I'll be this time next year & what "I can't believe I actually did that" thing I'll be reflecting on then...