5k run is done

I completed the first of my minor goals this morning when I crossed the finish line. My two main goals were a.) finish in under 30 minutes and b.) not stop to walk during any part of the race. I felt good at the start, but about a half mile in my shoelace became untied. I must have looked like an idiot getting paced by all the people who I had paced literally seconds earlier. However, I was able to regroup quickly and continued on. At mile one I felt alright, but anxious for the race to get over. At mile a mile and a quarter or a third (there weren't any markers) we had to run around a loop and head in the opposite direction. This is great I thought, we're about half way done, obviously I was wrong as when we got to a turn in the road we had to run the same path we had came from. As I ran down that path I started feeling a little pain in my right side, however I managed to put on a brave face when I saw my instructor Emily making the turn to head back in the direction we came from. I made that turn and felt my pace slow down. The pain in my right side was getting more intense. I was passed by my friend Anne Rohde who asked me how I was doing. I joking asked her why it was a fun run. Although our talk was brief, it was good to chat a little. However, she soon left me to eat her dust and I was back at it. Shortly after that I felt an added pain in my left side. I had never had that, I felt like I was ready to throw in the towel and either start walking or collapse and have the ambulance come out with the paddles. I then told myself that I had come to far to give up and that quit was a word that I never used. When I hit approximately the 2.8 mile mark I saw a photographer take my picture. I can't imagine I looked any better than grim death. I really felt like I was struggling. However, before I knew it I ran passed the 3 mile marker and told myself that I was really going to make it. As I continued to jog on at my slow pace, I saw a sign that said turn and sprint. When I made the turn I saw the finish line and kicked it into an all out sprint which must have been the slowest sprint ever recorded (I don't run to fast on a good day none the less after I had already ran 3 miles) however I crossed the finish line and didn't collapse. The pain in my sides went away shortly afterwords and I handed in my stub from my number that I wore on my chest before grabbing a bottle of water and then heading off to meet my parents who were nice enough to come for the race. I achieved my goals, I finished the race in 185th place (out of 738 people) and my time was 26 minutes and 27.2 seconds. I averaged 8 minute and 32 second miles which is better than I had averaged in my workouts so the improvement was definately there. This is not the end of my blog. I plan to keep this going until I achieve my goal of running a full marathon. However, I'm a long ways away from that journey, next up is a 10k. Wish me luck and thanks for reading. -Brian