Commitment Day 5K Recap 1/1/13

This year instead of starting the new year hung over, I recruited two of my friends-Crystal and Mike-and we headed to NYC for the inaugural Commitment Day Run.  This was not a race, there were no chip timers, just a bunch of people out to complete a 5K as a symbol of their commitment to living healthfully this year.

Last year I found myself.  I discovered the person I had always wanted to be:  confident and unafraid to pursue my dreams without the fear of failure or not being accepted.  Failure is actually something we can learn from and it doesn’t make us any less of a person, it only makes us stronger.  As far as not being accepted, well not everyone is going to accept or like me and you know what, that is perfectly fine by me.

Commitment Day signified the start of what I plan to make the best year of my life by pursuing my passions.  

Tuesday morning started bright and early, leaving my house with Mike at 8:30 and picking up my friend Crystal at 9….or rather driving to her house so she could drive us to the city (I am fearful of driving to the city, but I did face that fear last year when I actually drove to the city for a Technogym event!!!).  Our run started at 11am so we left plenty of time to drive to the city and find a parking spot, usually I have a story, but the drive into the city was uneventful.

We drove around and found a parking spot pretty quickly, although the spot was so tiny that I figured there was no way Crystal would be able to park her car in it, boy was I wrong.  Crystal grew up in Queens and I have to say that she is one of the best parallel parkers around, she actually taught me how to parallel park!!!  She did an amazing job parking!!!!  She did not even touch the other two cabs at all.

We were in the city and parked by 9:45 am which left us with a lot of time to freeze hangout, while waiting for the run to actually start.   We took some pics and I got interviewed by Commitment Day!!!!  I am not exactly sure where that interview is going to be, but I plan on finding out!!!

We headed to a diner to get some coffee, hit the bathrooms and get warm before the race.  I am never sure if it is jsut better to stay out in the cold, because when I got warm I didn’t want to go back outside 🙁  We got back to the start line about 10 minutes before 11 am!!!!

They started exactly at eleven, at exactly the same time as 33 other cities were beginning their Commitment Day Run!!!!  Thirty-four cities were beginning their commitment together and it felt great to be a part of such an awesome movement!!!!

Our run was an out and back run along the West Side Highway in Manhattan.  It was cold, it was windy, but it felt awesome!!!!!  I started out pretty strong ahead of both my friends, but I knew it wouldn’t last long because Mike was in such good running shape and I had not run 3 miles in over 4 months.  Mike passed me about 3/4 mile into the race and I never caught up 🙁  Thankfully the wind was at our back on the way back to the finish, I needed the extra push to keep on going.  I finished in 28:14!!!

I never expected to run that fast considering this was the longest I had run in months!!!  My friend Mike finished in about 26 minutes, which was even more amazing considering he ran a midnight run at Eisenhower Park and didn’t get home to almost 3 am.  He actually did better in this run than in the midnight run…..congrats Mike you rock!!!  I was not surprised as Mike has made an amazing transformation over the last year (which you can read about here), and he is looking better than ever!!!!  I did tell home not to expect to keep on beating me, because once I got back into my groove I would win…lol!!!!

Crystal did awesome!!!!  I was so excited to see her come in at around 40 minutes!!!!

We all had an awesome time!!!!!  This was the absolute best way to spend New Year’s Day!!!!  I was completely high off the run, which started my year out perfectly!!!!!

This was such a great way to start the new year!!!  Running and with friends, I couldn’t ask for more!!!!!  I am ready to make 2013 rock!!!!

How did you start your New Year??!?