OMG!!! I did it!!!! I ran my first 5K last Saturday!!! Coming off a pretty lazy vacation when I only ran once, and it was a crappy run that aggrevated my shin splints and the pain persisted for three days afterwards. The nerves started getting to me on Friday night when we arrived at my MIL's house (the race was near her). On the way in DH and I cruised down the road that the race was on and I realized (gulp!) that it was uphill until the turnaround point and then downhill (obviously) on the return trip. That intimidated me, since I've been a TM girl til now. Also it was pavement, which I knew was going to wreak havoc with my shin splints. Slept maybe 3 hours total that night, just could not get rid of the nerves/anxiety/what was I thinking. Woke up Saturday morning, had some cereal, stomach in knots still. DH came with me to the race, got there about 15 minutes til the start and thank goodness I didn't get there earlier than that cause as it was, those 15 minutes were excrutiating. Just totally freaked out by the whole experience, surrounded by people that looked a whole lot fitter and more comfortable in the situation than I was. I stretched and drank water to calm myself and then we lined up and bang! We were off.....and everyone (literally) went flying past me. I laughed a little at how slow I was compared to everyone else. There were a few people walking the race, so I wasn't Dead Last, but I was certainly last among the runners, haha. Made it about 3/4 of the way to the turnaround and I was feeling like I wanted to stop but of course I didn't. Right before the turnaround there was this big steep hill that I had to run up and thought I might die by the time I reached the turnaround where thankfully a nice old lady gave me some water and I walked for just a few seconds to guzzle that before turning around and heading back down. At that point I knew I was halfway so I couldn't stop, but boy did I have to sllooooooooowwwwww down. I think my pace in the first half of the race was pretty normal (12:00 to 12:30 for me) but the second half I was barely going faster than a walk. Once I got the finish line in sight though I HTFU and ran my heart out til the end. Finished with a time of 43:10, which I thought considering my shin splints and nerves and the first time I've ever run that far (since previously I've only made it to 2.75 miles)...I was pretty happy with that. For days afterwards I just kept shaking my head and saying, holy shit, I actually did it. I can't believe I actually did it. So hooray for my graduation and first 5K!! I'm taking time off from running until I can have my appt with a podiatrist to get checked out for custom orthotics or something to help with the shin splints, then I haven't decided where to go. I'm not sure I want to increase my distances any more than what I've done. I mean I am so happy that I did this program and accomplished my goal of completing a 5K this year, but I'm just not sure I want to become a marathoner or anything like that.

Great job ! take care of those shin splints !