The Starting Line

I am not an athlete. Not a runner. In fact, to be completely honest, I really hate exercising. Really. Hate. Exercising.  So a few months ago, when my friend Neil called me up and asked if I wanted to do the Color Run with him and some of our other friends my response was "The Color What?" The Color Run. A 5K with proceeds benefiting a different charity in each city. The Color Run is a 5K with a twist though. As you run you reach checkpoints where you get powder paint thrown all over you. Oh yeah and a white t-shirt is required. It's a bit difficult to conceptualize so here is a video that explains much better:

Ok...it did look like fun but "Are you guys actually running? Because I don't run, Neil."
This is me. My name is Heather. I am 33 and 5'2" and like I said before I am not a big exercise buff. I work hard to maintain a somewhat decent figure, but that involves what I eat more than it does exercise. At least it did.

"No, Heather...we are jogging or walking or jog-walking. Don't worry. We will all stay together as a group." I had to admit it did sound interesting.  So I signed. What was the worst thing that could happen? There had to be paramedics there. I live about forty-five minutes outside of Dallas, TX and my friends live all around. It kinda happens in Dallas. You just get used to driving.  So Saturday, February 18, 2012, we all woke up at 5am and got ready. What the hell was I thinking .. it was freezing and early and we were going run? Yeah, right. We drove to the city train and took it to Fair Park. And then a strange thing happened. I noticed all the other color runners on the train. And when we switched trains I noticed all the color runners. And they were all hyped. And I was getting hyped too. By the time we got in line at The Color Run, I was ready. We all  were. And when the horn went off we started jogging at a moderate pace. It felt good. That is until we hit the first set of colors and my lungs were burning and I was shaking. Ok. I am out of shape. Way out of shape. So we walk-jogged the rest, and I was pretty proud of myself when we hit the finish line. It was really a pretty good time.  And by the end we were laughing and covered in colors and just having a great time.

I wasn't completely convinced that I wanted to do another 5K anytime soon, but I did know that I needed to get in better shape. So I started exercising 2-3 times a week. One hour on the elliptical machine. And every week or so, I have been ramping  up the resistance. And  I am trying to eat healthier and walk more.
Oh and by the way, about a week after the Color Run I got another call from Neil. "Hey Heather! Want to do the Firefly Run in March?" Its another 5K...