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Submitted By jfmenees
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Jazmine Menees
ENGL 110
1/21/2014

My first 5k

Shoes hitting the pavement, crowd cheering. Those were the sounds I remember the most while running my last mile. The sounds of other runners panting, and faint music playing from another iPod. In that moment, I knew that I had made a life changing decision. It was a new year, and like most I had a few new years resolutions for 2013. At that time, I'm not sure the word “run” was even in my dictionary. Honestly, the thought of running for longer than 5 minutes made me slightly nervous. Since it was a new year though, I figured I'd give it a shot and sign up for one of the biggest races in Peoria. The steamboat days race. This race will be held in June, just five months from now. Don't get me wrong getting on the computer that day and telling myself I could run that far wasn't easy. I knew it would take everything I had to start every single day by getting up and going for a run. It was winter, snow on the ground, and freezing. Who would want to get up early every morning in the cold for that? I did. I needed to change my clothes, put on my shoes, and just go. While my first days on the treadmill were hard, I had to keep telling myself that I was doing this for the right reasons. I made sure I got up every single day to run at least one mile, and that's when running started to change my life. I started to see changes in my weight, and my clothes fitting loosely on my body. I started to have more energy throughout the day, eating smaller and healthier portioned meals. It was such an amazing feeling, knowing how hard I was working to achieve my new year goals. As the day got closer to my race, I was getting more and more nervous. My biggest fear when I signed up for this race was coming in last place. Failing myself, and all the hard work I had been putting into it. I pushed through these thoughts though, telling myself that I wasn't going to come in last place. There are many things in life that are far worse than having to run three miles. As I became better at running, I knew I had to pick a goal time for race day. I decided a 30 minute pace was suitable for me. In just five months of sweaty rigorous training, the gym had become my home. I ran so much that my feet became sore, and running became something I was proud of. It's 4:30am on race day. I'm freaking out. Today was the day that I would step on that starting line and run with all that I had. It was my very first race, ever. I get out of bed and make myself some oatmeal. I needed energy for my race and I had two hours until I needed to leave. I turned on the news to check the weather for today, sunny and eighty degrees. While eating my breakfast I decided to put in my headphones to zone out. I wanted to not think about it so that I did not psych myself out. I needed that positive mindset and motivation. Time went by so fast that morning. I wanted it to slow down but it was time to leave. I put on my shoes, and headed out the door. It's 7am, and the Peoria Riverplex parking lot is packed. People are jogging around the lot to warm up and stretching their muscles. I hear laughing and smiling in which I was amazed at how excited they are on this warm early morning. As I find a parking spot and look around, I find my stomach starting to hurt, I’m nervous. There's this huge sign counting down and it reads 35 minutes until start time. That gives me plenty of time to pick up my race packet with my bib number, and shoe tracker. As I was pacing back and forth to stay focused, I read on a small sheet of paper that there were over 3 thousand runners signed up this year. Wow, I'm really freaking out. Just then, my mom showed up to stand on the side for support. Good timing, I was just about to get back in my car and head home. I couldn't let my mom down, or myself. This was something I had to do. I worked too hard to have negative thoughts. I was going to take everything I had learned these past five months about running, and I was going to achieve my 2013 goal. I'm standing in a pool of people stretching, jumping up and down, people chatting to a friend. I'm standing there looking down at the ground focused on my shoes (probably telling them not to trip.) Some guy over this loud speaker is counting down “8..7..6..” Everyone crouches down into running position, getting ready. A wave of runners focused on their times, meanwhile I’m focused on not fainting or just making it to the finish line. The speaker yells “3..2..1.. and their off!” Before I knew it my feet were moving, I was breathing heavily next to some skinny guy who looked much older (and more fit) than I. As I was running though, I noticed others who like me were struggling to stay up to pace with some of the faster ones. I figured It was best to stick to the steady pace I'd been practicing for months, so that I didn't tire out too early. I can do this, in just 30 minutes that's all it takes. As I was running and keeping my pace I started to think to myself, maybe this race wasn't as hard as I had thought, or as scary. I had nothing to be afraid of. There were people like me almost in tears trying to make it through our last mile. There were little kids running in between the pool of adults stopping and going until their little feet got tired. I was on my last mile, and this was it. I was actually doing this, and not doing too bad. I started to smile as I reached the last stretch as I heard the loud screams and cheering of people along the sides. I looked ahead and could see a clock that read 28:06 In that moment something inside of me just wanted to run away from the old person I was. I wanted to run not only as fast as as I could but also to prove to everyone that this was the new me. I'm running fast, so fast that everything becomes a blur and it goes silent. All I can see ahead of me is the finish line and people waiting to high five me. As I hit that finish line I feel myself getting overwhelmed with emotions. I start to cry because I couldn't believe I did it. It was one of the coolest yet most difficult experiences of my life. I wanted to do that again. I learned a lot of things during and after that race. It became clear to me why people love to run. I used to think they weren't normal and just grew up running their whole lives. I was wrong. Running is a way for people to achieve their goals, and learn to control their minds. While training I fought with my thoughts about giving up. “Go home Jazmine, you're too tired to keep going.” I heard that one on a regular basis. I said,“no way, I want this.” We often tell ourselves many things throughout the day because we're too afraid and think we can't do them. It's all in our head. We can physically do anything we set our minds to. Whether it be passing a test, running a mile, or doing tasks at work. What ever we want to set our minds to do I believe we have the power to do them. I was guilty my whole life of being afraid of what others would think, or afraid of failure. That summer I completed seven races, and one six mile obstacle course. That summer was one of the greatest summers of my life and It was all because of my first race. As the runners began to celebrate and some were lying on the ground, I walked with pride. I felt an unexplainable feeling, that I'd never felt before. As I pulled out of the parking lot at 11am, I took a deep breath, and never looked back at that girl sitting on the couch not wanting to get up for a run. Today I put on my running shoes, and set new goals because after all, we can achieve anything.

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