I am so excited to share with all of my friends here at My Living Canvas that today I completed my first 5K!  I ran the Wolf Trap 5K for the Performing Arts.  Wolf Trap is “America’s National Park for the Performing Arts” and is a really cool venue where Brian and I enjoy seeing concerts in their outdoor amphitheater.

I was so excited to find out that Wolf Trap was hosting a 5k because I really wanted to run one in October and I was worried I wouldnt find one since everyone is all hyped about the big Marine Corps Marathon tomorrow.  I was also really excited to run my first run at Wolf Trap because there are tons of beautiful trees changing colors right now AND the park is only 2 miles from our house:)  All in all the conditions couldn’t have been better.  The forecast called for rain all last night and today but the rain held off for the race and the sun actually peaked out a few times before we started.

I have been training for this race since Labor Day and from tracking my progress on the treadmill and the few times I ran outside I estimated I would finish the race running about a 15 minute mile.  Well, I finished in EXACTLY 45 minutes so I think that puts me at a 14:29 minute mile for the 5K (3.1 miles).

The race started at 8:45 and I think there were about 800 people registered for the event. I was also super glad that they allowed you to use Ipods for this race.  I came equipped with my personalized power playlist designed by me for me and the songs were perfect!  The music really pumped me up.

The first mile was practically entirely down hill.  I was shocked when the dude on the corner was like congrats you made it one mile. I felt like we had just started.  So that was good.  But then we hit the hills.  It was all up and down after that, literally NO flat surfaces.  But I tackled each hill the best I could and ran down ALL of them:)

When I rounded the bend on the final tenth of a mile to the finish line I saw my neighbor Barbara who works at Wolf Trap she was cheering me on like crazy and that really gave me a boost to kick it up a notch to the finish line.  Then I saw the digital timer clock thing and saw that I was at 44:52 and then  ran as fast as I could to get there by 45:00 and I did it.  I made my goal and I couldn’t be happier.  Now I cant wait for the next one:)

The best part was having my dear husband there cheering me on.  He was a huge encouragement and support and he also took this cool pic of me crossing the finish line.

So who knows where this running thing will take me.  I really like the discipline lessons I have learned from training, and now I am eager to hit the trails for more training to improve my time.  I think my next goal will be to run another 5k where I run the entire time (no walking up hills) and then maybe a 10K!  We will see!

Here is the playlist I rocked for today’s race:

Foreplay / Long Time –  Boston

Life In Technicolor II – Coldplay

Viva la Vida – Coldplay

Rain King (MTV- 10 Spot) – Counting Crows

All Creatures Of Our God & King – David Crowder Band

We Are Loved – David Crowder Band

Rainbow – G. Love featuring Jack Johnson

Don’t Stop Believin’ (Glee Cast Version) – Glee Cast

Halo / Walking On Sunshine (Glee Cast Version) – Glee Cast 

Come Clean – Hilary Duff

3 – Britney Spears

Charmed Life – Joy Williams

All These Things That I’ve Done – The Killers

Turn Me Loose – Madcon

Shine – Matt Redman

California – Phantom Planet

And we takin over – tizwarz  mashup

Beverly Hills – Weezer