The Bailey Seven: Our first race...

Let me start at the beginning. Just over a month ago my sister-in-law suggested I run in the women's 5K race in Nashville. I hadn't been running, I don't like running to be honest. Well Shiloh heard about it and that it was the day before her birthday and wanted to run in it. I talked to Steve, and we decided we would go ahead and sign up and start training. 4-5 weeks before our first race we started training. Neither of us had ever run any distance before, let alone 3 miles! So we started out running/walking 1 mile, then 1.5, then 2, etc...After we got the distance down, we started walking less and running more. Pretty soon we got down to 36 minutes, which I was SUPER pleased about! That is 3 12 minute miles...incredible for us I thought! But we had a week to go before our race and so we kept on training. We trained 5 days a week...We both got new shoes during this time too!

So the big day arrived! We got up at 5 in the morning, left by 5:20 and headed to Nashville! Shiloh was so excited! I was nervous! I don't really know why seeing as though I knew I could finish, but I was sick to my stomach! I couldn't believe it! The weather when we arrived was wonderful!!! High 60's and the sun hadn't risen yet. There were just over 600 ladies running in the 5K along with Shiloh, Annapurna, Lori, and I.


Just starting!

So off we went. We ran the first few blocks and part way up the first hill. We walked some, but not as much as normal. What was totally unplanned was the fact that Shiloh would get her "game on" and want to run more! Several times she said "Come on Mom, Let's Run!" She got the competitive spirit! It was such a good run and a wonderful course! We had our names on our bibs...which was so nice to have people cheer you on by name! We ran 3.1 miles around downtown Nashville in 31.28 seconds...crossing the finish line in under our fastest time was such a wonderful feeling! Can't wait till our next one! =)