my first 5k.

well, well. i did it. and i still can't quite believe it. my first ever 5k, in 26:10 min. i'd told everyone i was aiming for 35 minutes, but secretly, i was hoping for 30.

and then i did 26:10.

running without my still not functioning nikeplus, i had no idea how fast i was running, and after 2k, when i ran past the clock at the finish line and it showed 9:09, i thought that i had started way too fast, like out of my league too fast. i felt so good, however, that i started wondering whether i might actually be able to do a much better than i had dared to dream. waiting for the start right next to a dad and his sons, one of the kids asked me how fast i was going to run. "no idea", i said. "maybe 12:95, like your starting number?" the kid joked. "probably twice that, and some more", i replied. so funny that i actually ended up running exactly that. ha.

it was super hot on sunday, mid-twenties and sunny, and between 2 and 4k, i was hot, thirsty (and hungry!) and kinda lost, mentally. i had a full on case of tunnel vision. i just couldn't believe that i was really running a race. in public. with 1800 other people. after two or three songs, i didn't even hear the music in my ipod. i saw r. cheering me at various spots of the track though, and e. and her hubbie. but no one else, even though i was so thankful for each and every (faceless) person who was cheering from the sidewalks (blessed be the folks who had prepped cups of water at the exact point of the race when i needed it the most!).

at about 3k, i was running with a guy in a yellow shirt, and deemed him to be as fit as me (no clue, really, how i made that decision), and i decided to make him my sparring partner for this race. i wanted to be faster than that bloke, and his yellow shirt made it easy to keep track of him. at 4k, i was pretty damn tired (and thirsty and hungry), and my brain gave me that silly "hey, walk for a while"-talk, but i didn't listen to it and kept running and overtook the guy in the yellow shirt, and before i knew it, i had turned the final corner and was running the last few metres towards the finish line, through cheering crowds. and just before i crossed that finish line, i saw the clock and it showed 26:05 and smiled and ran and cried and ran and crossed the line and stopped. and then i was done. and crying and smiling and happy.

afterwards, i drank four cups of water, found e. and her hubbie and the boyfriend (still looking for me at the finish line by 33 minutes or so, ha!), had a piece of cake from the unbelievable cake buffet and an unfaltering smile on my face for the rest of the day. at home, i took a long, much needed nap, had a shower, put on my new size 38 nümph dress and then went out on a date with the boyfriend. our first anniversary date, i might add, for a five course dinner at one of the swankiest places in town, a restaurant whose cook gave away his michelin star because he hated the added pressure.

exactly a year before, on the night that we first kissed, i stood in a little event space in town and out of nowhere thought "i could be this man's partner and life would be splendid". i would have never dared to dream, though, how very very good life with him would turn out to be. i never thought that my life could be this easy and fun and just all around good. and would have never deemed it possible, that it could include size 38 dresses and running 5ks.

i am one happy girl. oh yes.

[next 5k (actually, a 5,5k): november 28, basel, switzerland. november! the middle of winter! gasp!]