the race!

Jess and I are in there somewhere!

I'm still sort of in shock that the race has actually come and gone, and that I survived it....but I did! It was a crazy experience, having my first run ever being the Fifth Third River Bank Run (which is consistently ranked as one of the premier road racing events in the country). There were THOUSANDS of people in downtown GR this morning. Somewhere around 11,685 runners in the 5K and 10K races (that was me!), plus another 6,928 runners doing the entire race, which is a half marathon. There was also about another 3,000 doing the 5K walk and Junior race. 21,713 participants in total.


I guess I thought there would be lots of distractions while running, but once we got going it was so quiet out there! Everyone was excited, but focused on getting into their own rhythm. Definitely a few hills that were pretty killer, but the route was nice. It went all through downtown and on almost every intersection corner there were people cheering you on. 

My Safe Haven shirt said "Love Shouldn't Hurt" on the front

Between all the excitement around me, and the pressure that this was it--the race I've been training for all this time--I pushed myself a little harder. Seeing the finish line was probably my favorite part because once you got close to it everyone was cheering and clapping and it was the best feeling ever.

Jess and I finished the race at 29 minutes and 8 seconds which was almost a whole minute UNDER the goal that I had set for myself. And that is the fastest I've ever run! And (drum roll please) all together I raised $1,100 which is $100 OVER the goal we had set for Safe Haven Ministries! 

Me & Jess! We did it!

I was able to meet up with a few of the people who work at Safe Haven after the race to give them a few stray donations, and they were so sweet and grateful. I need to correct my earlier statement...handing over those last donations and realizing that I did it, and did it for the women and children at Safe Haven...that was the best feeling ever.

I have about a gazillion people to thank, and more pictures to share...so stay tuned! I'm going to take a nap :) For now I need to thank my trainer/friend/boss Jess for getting me into all this and helping me along the way. And Cory for being my biggest supporter, and getting up at the crack of dawn to come watch and take pics. You're the best!

Be the change. Make the difference.