My 5K Marathon

Since I gave birth to Malik, I had made it a goal to get back into shape and to start running. It's been a long 7 months... I tried to work out everyday but I don't always get to do it. However, I heard about this 5K marathon through Danny. Every year, Nestle sponsors Springville Art City Days and on the 1st day it's a 5K marathon. Because he knew that I have been wanting to get back into running, he brought me the form from work and I signed up. I wasn't too sure if I could do it because I hadn't been really consistent with my running since I gave birth. But I thought this would be a start.


Before, I went to bed last night, I made sure that my running shoes were out and that Malik's diaper bag was ready as well. I just wanted to make sure that I wouldn't be late. But, my sleep was often interrupted by crazy dreams. The dreams would either be me waking up late and missed the run or I would not be able to make it to the finish line. When my alarm finally went off, it felt like I didn't get any sleep at all. My first reaction was to forget the run and just continued sleeping. But Danny called and made sure that I was awake. So, I got up and couldn't believe that it was poring rain outside. I quickly got all my stuff ready and got Malik all dressed up and headed out the door.

The weather was seriously ugly. It was raining, cold, windy, and dark outside. When we finally got to Springville High School, I couldn't believe how many people were already there. There were about 600 or so people there. Danny was already there since him and Sipa were helping out with the run. He took Malik and I started stretching and pretending to warm up. The weather was still the same when the run started at 7:30am which made it harder to run. Manu Harris, Jen Sekona, and I started toward the back just taking our time. I was a bit nervous because I hadn't run in a long time and I saw all these well trained people over there just ready to run. I tried to just be calmed and to keep a steady pace. It wasn't too long and I found my pace.




The trail was beautiful and green despite the rain. Where we ran, you had an awesome view of the mountain. It reminded me of Hawaii. The neighborhood was beautiful. I was so sad that I didn't have my camera with me. But trust me, I wouldn't be able to run with a camera. This 5K marathon was basically a family run. There were all these kids as well as older folks running. I was really impressed especially with the kids that ran. I believed they were 5 or so years old. One older guy was probably in his 60s or so was right before me when we got to the finish line. Yes, he beat me. I kept telling myself as I was running that I really hope that when I'm about their age I could still be running marathon.

I made it to the finish line in 34 mins, 40 or so secs. It felt really good to finally at the end. I looked around for Danny and Malik but they were no where. Both Danny and Sipa were at the 2 mile post with a table of water for the runners. So funny, because as I was coming closer to the water table, I thought Danny would recogonize me but he was so busy handing out water to everyone else except me. I had to yell out, HONEY, to get his attention to get me some water and to get him to snap a picture of me...:) I told danny that next run we would get a babysitter for Malik and we would both run. The run was nice but the I was so tired and cold. I know it was just a 5K but I was soaking wet by the time I got done running. Danny and Sipa finally showed up with the kids. Malik was asleep but I woke him up for the pictures.







Anyways, I wanted to write a little bit about my experience with this 5K marathon. It was probably 5 to 10 minutes after the run started, that I began thinking of different things in life. Othen than most part of the run was spent thinking of my baby, Malik, I actually compared the race to life. We are all in a big marathon, we each have our own pace. Some of us struggle to keep up with others and we may fall behind and start walking or even give up, but the most important thing is that we all cross the finish line. I truly believe that it doesn't matter how long it takes us to finish the race but what's important is that we finish. The hardest thing in a race is when we compare ourselves to others and try to keep up with them. I had to admit that this was the hardest part for me. I would try to keep up with people that ran by me or got faster than the ones in front of me but I realized I couldn't do that because I didn't have the energy and I wasn't well train for this run. Then when I would slow down to my own pace, it was better for me. Everyone is different and we all have different potential in life.