Back at it.

Okay, I'm going to give you fair warning.

I'm talking about running...something I know only two people out the ten who read this blog care to hear about.  So if you are not interested, save five minutes of your day and close out the post now.  

I've had a set goal in my mind for months now.  Our local turkey trot was my goal for my first race post baby.

And I'm excited to say, I made my goal.
 

I had a few people say "I didn't even know you were back to running."  I've actually been back to running for some time now, I just haven't spoken much about it because it hasn't been anything too exciting.

While pregnant, when it got to the point I could no longer run anymore, the only thing I could do to satisfy my running need was to set goals.  So I set several running goals for myself and then talked about them constantly with my running partner...i.e. the only one who cares to hear about them.

I wanted to start back running eight weeks post baby and I was elated when I took that first step at seven weeks.  I took things very very slow though.  In fact, I think I took things a little too slow looking back.  I was following the couch to 10k app like I did in 2012, but the week before the 5k, I was still only up to two miles.  However, I wasn't too worried about the race because go ahead and hate me, I am one of those people who think "it's only three miles."

The Monday before Thanksgiving, I told my running partner I felt like the program was holding me back and that I could do more, so I was going to try to run 3 miles that day.  I shocked myself when I not only got three miles out, but got an extra half mile too.  However, it was slow....really slow, so I didn't put much into race times on Thursday.  I just wanted to finish the race.

Thursday morning came and it was cold.  Alison and I laughed because we remember how much we complained at last years Turkey Trot when the temp was a whopping 40 degrees.  Oh how foolish we were then....it was a balmy 20 this year.  In other words, it was freezing to us Southerners.  We even had to do a big runner no-no and go buy warmer clothes to run in race day.  It's a big running rule to never wear anything new on race day.  However, at 20 degrees, we figured it was a rule we were willing to take a chance with.

The race went really well and I even surprised myself by coming in only four minutes behind my last years time (34:09).  No personal pr's were broke, but I have to say I am still pretty proud of myself for being back to racing on four months post baby/c-section.

That's me in the pink...obviously.

And can we give the dude in front of me props for running three miles in Chuck Taylors !!! I can't walk in those things with out my feet hurting, let alone run in them. 

The guy getting pics at the finish line obviously wasn't concerned with getting me alone, so my apologies to the two guys who are subjected to some blog time.

For the record: these pictures are not mine. They were taken off the Get Set Grow facebook page. Get set Grow is our local event management team that holds are the local races and they do a fantastic job with them.  Their pictures are always on their facebook and they don't try to sell them so I consider them fair game.

This lady deserves props too!

She decided to ditch me (just kidding Alison!!!) and ran the 10k.  She set a personal best record. It may have been her first official 10k, but it is still a record! : )

I'm taking time off from racing till January.  In 2012 my goal was a race each month, but for 2014, I've decided to just do a few bigger races.  With already meeting my first two running goals, I'm excited to see what this next year brings!!!