This "rump" definitely shook...

5:30 AM - Me "This is the dumbest idea I've ever had."
                 Bruce "YUP!"

And so our morning began...

While neither of us are "morning people" - and I'm not sure I even know what that is - but I think my step-dad is one who you could call that.

He jumps out of bed as soon as the alarm goes off and is whistling something to the tune of "I Feel Good" by James Brown and dancing around like Tom Cruise in "Risky Business"....

Well, take my word for it - there was no whistling or singing going on at our house at 5:30AM. We barely got dressed and out the door in time to make it to my parents' house to head to Sloss Furnace for the race.

I will be honest: I was EXTREMELY nervous this morning, yesterday, and this whole week thinking about this race. And as soon as I heard James Spann say there was a CHANCE of thunderstorms, I was doing some serious praying and maybe a few rain dances so that the race was canceled. I know, I'm not proud, but I'm just being honest :)

But I knew there were TOO many people that knew I was planning on doing this - and that alone helped me to get pumped and know that I could do this... Didn't know if I'd finish, but I was definitely going to cross the start line.

And of course, as soon as we got close to Sloss, I was so nervous that I had to pee. And I mean I had to go RIGHT THEN. Bruce always makes fun of me for not being able to pee outside, but I was seriously contemplating it at this point. We were stuck in traffic and barely moving, and I told them I had to get out and find a bathroom. So, in the middle of the highway, I jumped out and headed towards the start line to find some porto potties. I may have even been walking a little funny, but the closer I got to the start line, I saw how many people were actually there. I got a little more nervous. I finally found the bathrooms, which as soon as I got there heard my mother call - she had jumped out too and followed me. Since I was set on finding a bathroom, I didn't even think to grab my cell phone so I could catch up with everyone later. Mom and I searched around the place for about 15 minutes and finally found the boys. And just in time - it was about 20 til' 8 and they were telling us to head towards the start line. I was getting more and more nervous but tried to not think about it by laughing at Bruce & my family. Thank God I have a crazy family who will think and say the craziest stuff cause it really helps ease the nerves in times like this. (On a side note that most of you guys don't know: At our wedding, it was time to line up and the bridesmaids and groomsmen were heading down the aisle - I was almost a "Runaway Bride" as the nerves started to take over. My hilarious step-dad pulled out a pair of ridiculous glasses, put them on, and turned around to face me. I was cracking up and completely forgot how I thought I could throw up at any minute. But it's times like these that I remember how blessed I am that my family is completely crazy!)

We headed toward the front, which I knew I wouldn't be there long, met some people Jeff worked with, did a few calisthenics (which reminded me and my brother both of our high school band years when we had to do them before every practice), and then it was time to take off. With this being my first race, I wasn't exactly sure how everything went but I had gone through the entire course on GoogleMaps, road by road, to make sure I knew every hill, incline, and turn. This turned out to be really helpful because I remembered where every mile marker and water station was located, and I could tell Mom "only a couple more blocks and we turn".

As we took off, people were running past us on both sides, and I knew that I definitely wanted to walk the first part to get warmed up. I had read in too many articles where people take off trying to start at a fast pace and then end up last because they are so tired. I also didn't want to leave my mom behind. She kept telling me to go on but it was fun having her beside me and doing this together. Patti & Samantha caught up with us, and we walked just about the whole way with them.



This is what I kept telling myself.



This sign just made me laugh - my FB status prior to the race said "If I'm not back on in 3 hours, I've gone Home to see my Maker."

I had read one of the emails prior to the race that stated you were welcome to walk the entire race but the police may ask you to move to the sidewalk so that traffic could move. That was my main motivation, I did not want to be THAT slow that they have to ask me to move to the sidewalk. Sounds funny, but could be really embarrassing. Mom and I kept a really good, fast-walking pace and every time I turned around, I was amazed by how many people were still behind us and how many people participated in this race. I told Mom the last .2 miles of the race we should run so that we could look really good crossing the finish line. We agreed and as soon as we could read the FINISH line sign, we took off. Mom and Sam got ahead of me and Patti due to a traffic jam in the middle of the road, but we all made it in under 1 hour - which was another goal of mine.

I wanted to look like this as I crossed the finish line

But instead, I know I looked like this! :)

And here's the proof I really did it:

Can't wait for our next 5k at the Birmingham Zoo! If you'd like to do it with us, let me know!