My First Time

So this JUST happened, but I figure if I don't blog now, it won't get written down. I just completed my very first 5K race! I feel so good right now. Before the race started I was so nervous. I thought that I couldn't do it. I was sure that half way through the course I would just fall down and never finish, and really the only way I could fail is if I didn't finish. But a 5K is only just over 3 miles, so really what was I scared of? I go walking every morning. I walk my butt off (hopefully it will fall off soon...). And here I am thinking that I can't make it around campus? How silly.

So the race starts, and off I go. I get a really good pace right off. I know that I can make it more than a mile at that pace. Everyone else seems to fly past me. I felt slow. Then, once we were hidden from the crowd that saw us off, at least a third of the runners stopped running. They only wanted to look cool, then walk the rest of the race. LAME. They had me feeling slow and all they were doing was getting out of sight. I knew then that I really am awesome.

Then I made it to the first mile mark. Then I made it past the first mile mark. Then I made it down a hill and around a corner and up a hill. And then I was pretty dead and I needed to walk for a while. I looked at where I was, and I was all the way to the middle of Aggie Village. I rock! I didn't have to slow down til way after the first mile mark, and I was almost to the half way mark. Cool. The rest of the race I ran a little then walked a little, till I could see the end, then I ran all the way.

I didn't feel prepared before I went into this race, but finishing and not feeling like I was going to die made me realize that I was prepared and I didn't even know it. I made myself run this race because I said I would, and I can't even trust myself if I don't do the things that I say I'm going to do.

I really feel so empowered all of a sudden. I'm sorry that I keep rambling on and on. Let me put it simply. I did something that I didn't think I could do, and now I feel like I can do anything. I wish I could go back in time and tell this to my 12 year old self. I would say, "Karen, I know this is hard, and I know you are about to make a habit of always giving up, and never doing anything that doesn't come naturally to you, but if you just try, just for a little while, you will find that life is much more rewarding when you put in some effort than when you do nothing and just watch life pass you by." How different would my life have been if I had learned that lesson a long time ago? I am happy with where I'm at. I love my family and friends, and I know that I am who I am because of where I've been, but because I've learned this lesson, I can make sure my children learn it early on. They can be the kinds of people who always try their hardest and never give up. Just imagine that people that they will grow up to be all because I taught them how to try!