I ran my first 5K! (Well, sorta.)

With the weather being as dreary and rainy as it was today I wasn't feeling particularly jazzed for the AHA Heart Run/Walk this evening. I signed up as a runner many months ago when I was starting my Machu Picchu training. Soon after I realized that I was better off on the Stairmaster than running, so I haven't been training to run a 5K. But I went with my colleague Loni to the runners side anyway. She's an experienced runner, and as soon as we started she was way ahead of me. I didn't have very high expectations for myself -- really I was only expecting to make it maybe half a mile before slowing to a walk. But I continued to run without stopping several blocks after the first mile marker. That alone is a major accomplishment for a non-runner like me. I continued to alternate running and speed walking the rest of the way, and I ran the length of the home stretch along the Hudson River. Near the end were a bunch of kids cheering us on and holding their hands out, high-fiving us as we passed. When I crossed that finish line, they were playing Pink Floyd's "Run Like Hell." I was so happy I could have cried. I've always heard about endorphin highs from exercise, but I didn't think I'd ever really experienced one, till tonight! I know I didn't run the entire course. But just the fact that I tried means so much to me. It even makes me want to do another!

On the way home this song started playing in my head for no reason. It's the song the grandma sings in Pippin. I especially love this part:

I've never wondered if I was afraid
When there was a challenge to take
I never thought about how much I weighed
When there was still one piece of cake
Maybe it's meant the hours I've spent
Feeling broken and bent and unwell
But there's still no cure so heaven-sent
As the chance to raise some hell