On Saturday I completed my first race ever - I ran in the Shamrock Shuffle 8K down in Chicago. It was such an incredible day! I was pretty nervous before the race started, but as soon as I crossed the official start line I had chills. It was such an amazing atmosphere...everyone there for the same thing. My goal was to cross the finish line in no more than 1 hr 15 min, and I finished at 1 hr 10 min!
Once I was close to the finish line, I spotted my family there - my parents, Chad and the boys were there to cheer my brother and me on. Keith had finished quite awhile before I did since he started in an earlier corral. Seeing them there spurred me on, and I ran out the finish. Crossing the finish line was an emotional event for me. I've been working hard at improving my running along with becoming healthier and losing weight, and finishing this race really showed me how the hard work is paying off. In the past I would have chickened out and not entered. That's the old me. And this is also encouraging healthy changes for the boys. Now Matt wants to run, so we went out and ran 1 1/3 miles this afternoon. I love seeing how it's passing down.
I'm already looking forward to running two 5Ks next month, along with a mile race with the whole family. And to top this all off, I lost another 3.6 lbs, so now I'm down 23.2 lbs total since Jan. 10th. Love it!
