Jingle Bell 5K Run

After running my first 5K, I had the race fever & had to register for another. This time, I got Bry to run it with me. We registered for the Jingle Bell 5K for Arthritis and honestly, I didn’t even get to property train for it. The time spent between the first 5k and this one was dedicated to interviewing and landing a full-time job. So, when I got to the Jingle Bell run, I knew there was no way it was going to be a PR race. (& it wasn’t).

Bry and I rolled out of bed around 7am (much later than the first 5k). First off, I was extremely excited to put on the socks I purchased from Target a few weeks ago!

We left the house around 8:30 to drive the 20 minutes to the local community college that was hosting the event. We were very grateful that we were able to wait inside- No freezing my legs off this time! They had a costume contest for the best holiday outfits. There was a set of twin newborns in Santa onesies. So CUTE! Sometimes I think that parents look at me weird because I freakishly stare at their children.

This race had a lot less runners and walkers than the Race for Hope. I think I actually liked it better with less people. The energy wasn’t nearly as electrifying as the Race for Hope, but I enjoyed the home-town feel of it all.

My music for the run was the Chris Brown station on Pandora. I would have listened to the Holiday music, but most of it was too slow & wouldn’t pump me up. Therefore kids, I was listening to censored hip-hop. WOO. Nothing like pretending your a backup dancer for Chris Brown.

The first mile was terrible. It was mostly all uphill, and I actually thought about walking the rest of the way. I hated myself for pretending I could run a 5K without training, and I even questioned how much I loved running. It’s like dancing. The first time I had to be recorded for a dance class in college, I looked at myself on the big projector and thought, “oh my god, I am so terrible.” Granted, I was no where near terrible, but I did see first hand how much harder I had to work toward being as flexible as all the gummy-leged dancers at my school. When I think about how running is so new to me, I have to remember, “of course I’m not going to be amazing at it right away.”

The 2nd and 3rd mile were a lot easier than the first. I got a surge of energy someplace around mile 3, and I knew that I might actually be able to finish in under 31 minutes. I made a friend during the last .1 mile. I looked over to her and said, “Almost there!” We ran the rest of the way together, and I later found out that her goal was the same as mine: finish a 5K in under 30 minutes.

My Nike+ app on my phone must have lost signal while we were running through the state park, because when I finished it read only 2.90 miles. Weird. My unofficial time ended up being 30:40. Note: I wasn’t even expecting to finish anywhere close to that time.

When I crossed the finish line, I was barely able to breathe. I actually think that I need an inhaler. My chest felt tight and it kind of tasted like I was swallowing blood — I wasn’t.

Overall, the run was good. I liked the course a lot (minus the enomous hill the first mile). We ran through a state park and near a river. It was nice and peaceful. When we finally emerged from all the trees, we ran a straight away toward the college. There was nothing surrounding us besides grass and the sunshine. It was pure bliss.

Do you have exercised-induced asthma? If so, how did you get tested for it?