The Little Engine That Could

The men supporting wives, and sporting kids.

Before the race. Very scared.

Totally going crazy with nerves.

Ashley ran the race in 25ish minutes. So the men were not prepared to take her pictures. Oh, her ribbon is red because she was second place.

Dana kicking it into gear, me in the orange two behind her trying to make it to the finish line.

I just crossed the finish line and was asking Dave where Matt was.

This is the guy that got me pumped about walking/running. He taught a lot of women around here the proper way to walk/run. When he started running he was almost 300 lbs! Now he is a marathon runner.

Six weeks ago I decided that I wanted to be in better shape, so I started walking. Now that may not seem to be too much, but I had just had a baby, and I neither worked out during my pregnancy or before the pregnancy. Needless to say I was way out of shape. At first the 15 to 20 minute walks killed me! But after a week or two I was starting to see some improvement. 

My mom and sister came to visit during May. There was an opportunity during their visit for all of us to enter a 5k walk/run on campus, and we took it! The first half of the race I walked the up hill, and thought I was going to die. As we started going down hill my crazy-in-shape mom said that we should start running. And so we did. And amazing as it was, I could run! I kept on running, and then I finished the race! From that point onward I knew that I had the potential to do some serious running. 

To keep me motivated in my new running enthusiasm, I entered the Teton Dam Marathon 5k portion. This race is unique to this area, and I have always wanted to be involved, so this was my last chance! I had to take it. 

Me, my sister Ashley, my friend Dana showed up at the conner of Millhallow Road saturday excited and scared. Dana and I knew that this was going to be hard for us, so we decided to do the race together. When the race began Ashley was off! And Dana and I hung back, not because of strategy, but because of necessity. You see, Millhallow Road is a crazy uphill road. During that portion of the run we just concentrated on breathing and staying alive. We had to walk a bit of it, but when we came to 7th South we were able to run again. And happy day, 2nd East was all down hill! During our trek down 2nd East the first of the Marathon runners passed us (they started out at 6am from the Teton Dam), and a few of the half-marathon runners, and some of the 10k runners. Dana and I were a bit sheepish about that, but we continued to run and keep our heads up. The last turn Dana turned to me and said, "Lets kick it into gear" or something like that. But I did not have any gears to kick, so I told her to go go go! She finished wonderfully! I finished, with my little pace of a jog, but I did it! I totally ran in a 5k! All of my life I have thought that runners were crazies, but now I am a crazy! 

I did all of this the past 6 weeks because I kept thinking to myself, "I think I can, I think I can..." It is amazing how small steps can became big progress.