Some of you may know that this summer I did the Couch to 5K program.  My twitter friends listened to me complain about running through the humidity but cheered me along every step of the way.

I wouldn’t have described myself as a couch potato.  I was active, walking and biking, but felt I needed to step up my exercise a bit.  I can’t remember how I discovered the program, but downloaded a simple app and finally started.

Annie encouraged me along the way.  I figured if I never made it past day one’s walk/run combination that I would still be better off.  Well, before you know it, I was going from 60 second runs to 30 minute runs.

I set my sights on a 5K.  It was hard to find one that fit into my busy schedule, plus one that might be good for a beginner (no hills).  I settled upon one at a wonderful winery, South River Vineyard.  What better incentive than a glass of wine at the end of the race!  A perfect fit for me!

I woke up to a driving rain.  I was really disappointed because I had envisioned runs through the grapevines on a crystal clear fall day!  I decided to trek out to at least get my t shirt, but when I arrived I was energized by the buzz of activity.

Can you guess who wins this race?  Yeah, he’s in the photo above, not below….

The property is lovely.

You can see the rain in this photo.  Annie is in the royal blue.  We were able to run the entire time except for a few patches that were so muddy that they were too slick to run.  I found myself trying to find lanes that were easier to navigate but there really wasn’t one.  Plus, when you are at the back of the pack, the lanes were pretty trampled.  At one point, there was no way to avoid a 10″ lake so we had to walk through it.  After that we were utterly squishy soaked.

Here we are making the final turn around the vineyard.   I was looking forward to the end at this point.

My goal was to finish a race and I am happy I did, even if it took 42 minutes! I did find some negative thoughts creeping into my mind when I wasn’t even able to pass some of the people that started walking….or when the really fa
st guys lapped me..but I fought them back and reveled in the fact that I met my goal!

Ahhhh, success, celebrated with a delicious Reisling.

If I can do it, so can you.

Now where is that couch, I have some knitting to do!