Adventures, Dad, Health & Fitness.

Brace yourself for the awesomeness

zoot

Remember how I was worried that I wouldn’t finish the race? Remember how I was worried I would come in last? Remember how the fastest I could run on a treadmill was a 12-minute mile? Well. I have learned that I am a lot more awesome than I thought I was. I finished in 34 minutes and 47 seconds. That is WELL under what I thought I would finish at. I was 643rd out of 805 and 37th out of the 53 from my age group. Not too shabby for a beginner.

I ran the ENTIRE time. Well, except for the water station they had in the middle of the course. There were girls handing out cups of water and I grabbed one and threw water into my mouth. I realized as I started choking that there was ice in the cup with the water. Call me crazy, but isn’t that dangerous? Well – I decided to take a couple seconds to drink the water without running so I could avoid choking on more ice.

The first half-mile of the race was exhausting and I was convinced I’d fade out long before the half-way point, but after that half mile, it got much easier. I kept a VERY consistent pace and since I started at the back of the pack, I passed waaaay more people than passed me – which did wonders for my ego.

All in all? I’m thrilled. Everyone actually did really well. My Dad beat us all, of course. Luckily, he’s not one to rub it in. You had better believe that if I had come in first of our group I would have spent the rest of the day reminding everyone of that fact. MrZ ran the race 10 minutes faster than he did last year, so he is very proud of himself. LilZ finished the race saying, “Maybe next time – I’ll train a little bit first.” heh.

I think we’ll try to run more races in the future. Give us motivation to keep training. I’m actually not too sore today. My Dad and I went on a 3 miles hike yesterday after the race, if you can believe it. Then we got up this morning and walked around downtown. Before we left, we asked MrZ if he wanted to come too. He politely declined and said, “What’s with all of the walking?” Ha! That’s just what my Dad and I do when we get together. Walk places.

The morale of the story: It is possible for anyone to get in shape enough to run a 5K. It is also possibly to eat 5000 calories worth of bagels in one day. But that’s a story for some other time.

Published by zoot

26 thoughts on “Brace yourself for the awesomeness”

  2. Awesome showing, Zoots. We are so proud of you all! Hey, we actually spent a leisurely brunch at Bruegger’s on Saturday, half in the hope that all y’all might show up. Apparently, you were too busy walking to Kurdistan and back. I hope we can meet the pops when he’s in town again sometime.

  3. WHOOHOOO!! Way to go, Zoot-o-rama!

    Race day magic, baby. You always run faster than you thing you can. Its the crowd and number on your chest that does it.

    Very proud of you!

    So when’s the next race? 🙂

  4. Nice blog. I read a very nice earlier entry regarding the Catholic Church. I just returned to the church and am the happiest I have ever been in my life. No, we women are not degraded; we play pretty important roles in the church actually. And our “rituals” go all the way back to the apostles and the very earliest Christians. We worship in the way they do; for more on that, check out Ignatius of Antioch. Bless you.

  5. Well done! I really am impressed. I have had the chance to do a couple of these, but declined both times because I KNOW I wouldn’t have the discipline to train for it.

    But maybe I should just go for it….If I do, I’ll name you as my inspiration. Lol!

  6. You so totally rock, Zoot!!

    Seriously, you’re inspiring me here. I doubt I could run a whole 5k (the last time I ran anywhere was… well let’s just say it’s been a long time). But if I could walk it without swallowing my tongue that’d be a great start!

  11. YOU totally rock and are my inspiration to get my fat buttocks off the chair and do some exercising. I have been waiting for my cruise to work out, like that is going to happen. But tomorrow I will put on my tennis shoes and start the Zoot trail… I am proud of you! And I don’t even know you other than the cyber life! I bet your family is sooooooooo proud!

  12. Congratulations!!! I know exactly the feeling of pride and acomplishment that you have right now! As for the ice, that is crazy. I have never heard of that.

  13. Awesome – that is fantastic! Having never run anywhere other than the forced laps in high school gym class, I’m always impressed by people who are able to complete these runs. You rock!

  18. That is just AWESOME!! Way to go, girl!! (Also, who knew about the whole ice thing? Was it big ice, or crushed or what? That’s the weirdest thing ever.)

    I was so proud the first time I ran an entire marathon. I miss doing that because we don’t really have any here. I always did the ones for charity and stuff because I knew that even if I didn’t run the fastest or run the whole time, my time and my donations were going towards a good cause anyhow. Keep up the awesome pace you’ve got going with all the walkin’ and runnin’! Too bad winter is right around the corner.

  19. Notice how Jon has to work in a CHEST reference? stinkin perv.
    YAY for you! i knew you could do it. Feels great right?
    That is a great time btw. AWESOME.

    p.s. I don’t think I;ve ever encountered ICE at a water station. weird

  23. Congrats!! My biggest fear is coming in last, I am running a 5K in October, so far only 80 people have signed up…not looking good for me.

  25. You have just inspired me to do a 5K in the spring. You are wonderful!! I’m doing a 17 minute mile right now but I will try anyway.

  26. Huge congrats are in order!

    Funny how everytime I read about you running, I seem to be drinking a beer. Or possibly not funny at all. Just sad.

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