30 Races Before 30: RACE 1 OF 30 ~~~ IRON GRL 2011 SCOTTSDALE, AZ

Well I did it. I ran my first race out of my 30 race goal. I got up at 530am and headed out the door with my little family in tow and picked up my friend Melissa and headed to north Scottsdale. I drank a 5 hour energy drink and was pumped up and ready to go. Maybe it was my nerves but I was still excited. I had a goal of completing the 5k in under 45minutes and thanks to my friend Melissa I completed it in 37:59 my PR (personal Record) 8 minutes faster than I had planned. I didn't train much at all for this race, so much came up and I wasnt able to so I was very proud of my self knowing I maybe trained a total of 5 days for this race. I was feeling great starting out the race, I was pumped, then came our first hill I wanted to scream, but I ran up the whole hill. Melissa trains like I do, we do a 4 minute run then 1 minute walk, my old roommate Lety trained me like that when I was living with her and doing races and it really works for me. During our first 4min interval I asked Melissa what time we were at and it was only 2 minutes and I told her I forgot how long 4 minutes was, she laughed. Well I made the first mile I was a little tired. Then came our turn around mark and we headed down hill, going down hill you really have to control your pace, we managed, then we made it to 2 miles and then 2.5 and we were headed back up hill and at this point i believe we walked for almost 5 minutes I was really tired, we get to the bridge we crossed in the beginning and we decided to run start without stopping to the finish line, I really thought I was going to finish before Melissa because I was taller and had longer legs but no we crossed together and they called my name and it was the most exciting event ever, I got my very first medal ever for a running event. I kept telling Melissa as we were running to the finish line I thought I was going to throw up, but I never did, thank goodness. I look forward to completing my next race. I love running and running in races, they maybe early in the morning but everyone is soo pumped up that you get a burst of energy and you have people cheering you on the sidelines the whole race and just when you feel like giving up a fellow runner tells you "you can do it, keep pushing your almost there "and you feel like you get your motivation back and you get going again. I love running down the corral to the finish line so many people are cheering for you and ur family/friends are there cheering you on, its an amazing feeling. I look forward to many more races,
I will be training more and hitting the gym alot more. My only time to train is at 5am because my sweet husband gets up with the baby and he works out at night so we spilt it up. I like morning workouts because it gets me energized for the day.

(Melissa and I)