I never thought I would say this, but I ran a 5k AND I ran it in 33:14.

For a girl who, until this summer, had never in her life run more than one mile at any given time, this was quite a feat.

Two things were paramount to my success. First, my fiance, who hates to get up early and yet hauled himself up and out to run with me almost every single morning leading up to the race.

Especially in the first weeks of training, when I wasn’t sure why we were doing this or what I thought I was trying to prove.

Second, my Couch to 5k (C25K) app. I was pretty sure an app was not going to get me out of bed and running a 5k in a couple months, but it did work.

Not the getting out of bed part–that was a crazy self-motivation that possessed me, especially when I started seeing success. But it did keep me on track and I did build up endurance as we went along.

All of this culminated in my running the Hudson Race to the Taste Labor Day weekend with a few friends and with my parents at the finish line cheering me on. My fiance was hunting that weekend but he got a pretty excited phone call when I saw my results! I had not run that quickly during any of our practices so I actually surprised myself when I saw the final time.

We all celebrated by enjoying the Taste and consuming lots of delicious food. What better way to reward my physical prowess than by eating! My aunt and uncle stopped over and the fiance was able to go home and shower and then join us later for a bite to eat. I’ve been to most restaurants in Hudson, but it was nice to try a few new ones along with a few new dishes from a few old favorites.

In addition to learning something new about myself and my ability to accomplish a physically challenging task, I saw some positive physical manifestations of my success. I met and surpassed my New Year’s goal to lose 15 lbs., and just in time for our wedding! The dress might fit better than I ever anticipated, and I certainly feel better than I ever anticipated.

I’d like to keep running. I felt confident I’ll continue up to our wedding, but I’ll have to see how the weather holds once we’re in mid-October and back from our honeymoon. It’s been a great way to start each day–I feel good at work, I feel good about myself, and I really feel like I’m overcoming a physical and mental hurdle I didn’t even realized I had put in place.

The fiance is also interested in continuing to run and maybe even running his own 5k race. Now that I know I can complete the race, I’ll have to start focusing on my time. Who knows–this New Year’s Resolution might just turn into a new hobby for us to do together!