5K What?

Since Sandra Lue (S) & I have been running/working out after work lately, I came up with the idea of training & running in a race to keep us moving. S has never ran in an actual race before & has never really been an actual runner but she has been doing so well since we started & has not given up once. I have ran a few 5K races, one 10K race (with Dan), and I was addicted to running my last year of college when I would run daily with Sarie. She was the one that actually taught me to love running instead of just doing it as exercise. It is a great stress reliever for me & also boosts my confidence. So a few weeks ago, I talked to S & L (Leesie) & asked them if they wanted to run in the Centreville Turkey Trot 5K Race on Thanksgiving Day. Surprisingly, it did not take that much convincing. L’s response was “let’s do it!” S was a little less excited & said, “Alright, how far is a 5K?” We have also added a few more to our group, L’s husband, Chip, and S’s fiancé, Santiago, that will join us on race day. Unfortunately, Dan will not be joining us because he will be in WV carrying on the tradition with his Dad, brother & brother-in-law of hunting the morning of Thanksgiving. After the race, Lexi & I will drive up to WV to spend Thanksgiving with the in-laws.
After we signed up for the race, L & I found a workout program to help us train for the race which we start this week; it is a 6 week program. I’m so excited to be training/running in this race with some girlfriends which is something I’ve never done before; I’ve always either ran by myself or ran with Dan. Of course, when Dan runs in a race we don’t actually run together because he takes it so seriously. He leaves me behind as soon as we cross over the start line. I don’t blame him though, if I ran like he does, I would want to beat everyone that I could too.
Now that we have been training/running for over a week, I can share with you some of the funny things that happen during our runs. When S & I first started, she did not want to utter a word while running, meanwhile, there I am talking about the running rules that I listed in my previous post & asking her, “how are your feet?” “how is your breathing?” “does your side hurt?” “how are you doing girlie?” I would look back at her & she would give me a look like, “I’m going to seriously hurt you if you don’t shut up & let me concentrate on my breathing.” I got the hint after a while & closed my mouth but still uttered words of encouragement, i.e., “great job girlie!” “only 5 more minutes!” “you can do it!” “size 8 wedding dress here you come!” :o) One day we decided to run & do some endurance training so I took a 4 x 4 workout that my Dad does with his baseball team, which includes (1) back peddling; (2) karaoke; (3) jogging; and (4) side lunges. S was starting to lose energy while doing the last move, karaoke, so I broke out singing the song “Dancing Queen…young & free, only 17…” I thought this might help her but it actually just made her laugh to the point where she couldn’t run anymore. Last Friday when L was able to join us for a run, we were on our way back to the office & coming to a hill which I say to them, “don’t stop on a hill girls…don’t stop…don’t stop!” And then I break out singing Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’…hold on to that feelin’…street lights, people…!” They both laughed & everyone that was around either working out, walking their dogs, etc. stared at me like I was crazy. It was pretty funny & it served its purpose…to keep the girls running up the hill. I’ve had a lot of fun training with the girls & I’m sure I’ll have more stories to share as the race approaches.