Marine Corps Marathon: Runstock 5K

I've always wanted to be a runner. I would look at friends of mine that had rock hard bodies and toned legs in admiration, when one day I thought: why couldn't that be me over time?

I started running a little over a month ago and about 2 weeks into it, I heard from a friend that the Marine Corps was hosting a 5K in only a few short weeks on base in Quantico. I thought, why not? I'll give it a try.

Up until the day of the race I could only run about 1.5 - 2 miles if I was pushing it. A 5K = 3.1 miles, so anyone could guess that it was a little bit of a struggle for me. According to online, you should train 18 weeks before any sort of competition - oops! That explains a lot. I'm sure if I started 18 weeks ago I would be able to run it with no problem, however, I went into the 5K with the mentality that I'm doing it for fun! Am I going to be 1st, 2nd, or even 3rd place? Hell no, but its one of those things that you simply do for the heck of it. Out of 500 people, I wasn't the only person taking a walking break in between each mile.

My friends Michelle and Brianne registered for the race shortly after I did, so I was ecstatic that I would have some buddies to share the experience with. They're both much better runners than I am, but I was beyond proud of them for getting excellent times and pushing themselves hard to pass the finish line - we ALL beat our estimated times. All 3 of our husbands (Kevin, Boulat, and Taylor) came to support and watch the race as we huffed and puffed our way through the 3 miles.

I placed 435th out of 497 people - all I can say is: at least I wasn't last! I'll do much better on the next 5K. I might even allow myself the 18 weeks in advance...

Course Map

With Brianne waiting for the 5K to start

I'm pumped!!

With Brianne and Michelle 5 minutes before the race started!

500 people!

Almost done!

I did horribly bad (as expected), but I had fun!!

With Michelle and Brianne AFTER the race...we're all exhausted.

Our friends Michelle and Boulat