The Thomson's: what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger

A couple weekends ago, Mom and I ran in the 5k fun run in Glenwood. I heard about it 10 days before race day and wasn’t sure I’d be able to do it, but I thought it’d be fun, if I survived : )

Mom was totally up for it. She’s been running consistently for months now so she is an old pro! I had been running a little bit in the weeks before the race, but I was just trying to get some exercise, not training for a 5k. And the last time I ran 5k was in the Cardston family fun run in 2009.

So three years and two kids later, here I was trying to run 3.1 miles, again. I figured if I was going to enter the race, it would be pointless if I couldn’t run the whole thing. That was my goal. And since I’d done it before, I figured I could do it again. Well I “trained” for those few days and all too soon, race day was here. I was nervous the night before and that morning, for some reason. I met mom at the Glenwood school where we registered and stretched and psyched ourselves out. I told mom if it came down to one of us winning at the end, I would show no mercy and leave her in the dust.

10:00 rolled around and we lined up on the start line. The gun went off and we started our run, side by side. Things were going pretty good…as we passed the ``kilometer 1`` sign. So we kept running, and I was doing okay, but we were only 2 kilometers in. I could tell at this point that things were going to get ugly. I wasn’t used to running outside on gravel or having the hot sun beat down on me (at least that`s my excuse).

Mom was beside me just a runnin` away. At about 2.5k she made me eat my words, and her dust, when she took off. I was still running at this point. Not very fast, but I wasn`t walking. I wanted to walk so bad, my lungs were about to give out. But I didn`t come this far to walk half of it, so on I went. I had to keep talking myself out of stopping, because that`s all I wanted to do. Lay down, right there in the ditch and just try and breathe again. Mom was quite a bit ahead of me, still going strong. If my mother could do this, surely I could too.

Not fast enough, I turned the last corner and the finish line was in sight! What a relief! I might actually make it. At this point I was so excited to be done, I mustered all the energy I could and ran a bit faster (if it can even be called running). The sooner I got there, the sooner I could collapse on the ground and cry.

Well, I did it! Not the crying part, but the race! I made it across the finish line and I ran the whole 5 kilometers!

Mom beat me. But I still love her ; ) And looking back, I`m so glad I didn`t give up. Mom and I both actually got the best time we ever have. It felt great to accomplish a goal! And I learned a couple lessons in the process; I can do hard things! And training for more than a couple weeks would probably be beneficial.

Half marathon, here I come!!….maybe. It might be a good idea to see if I can survive a 10k first ; )