This week was full of thrills. From a spontaneous pillow fight in front of the Duomo to a wine tasting event in Chianti, I'd say it was a pretty successful week. The most interesting part of the week was probably today. Jacki and I found ourselves accidentally running in a half marathon. One might ask How exactly does one ACCIDENTALLY run a half marathon? Well, here's how...
Yesterday, Jacki asked me if I wanted to run a 5k with her this weekend. A 5k wan't exactly my idea of a good time but I figured I needed the exercise after the month of eating gelato non-stop. I haven't done any form of cardio since I was on the lacrosse team a year and a half ago BUT I was on the cross country team my freshman year of high school. That had to count for something, right? It was only about 7 years ago. I was sure that my body would just remember the movements and start to go with the flow. To be honest, I really just wanted a free t-shirt. They were sponsored by Salvatore Ferragamo so Jacki and I decided that they were a must have. When we arrived at the registration tent, we found out that they ran out of t-shirts. WHAT! Our faces were full of disappointment but we decided to still register. We figured that since no one here ever exercises, we actually had a shot of winning the 5k. Sure, it is for charity but I was sure they still had some kind of trophy or something.
Little did we know, we would be running with elite Italian athletes.
This morning, we ate a healthy breakfast and made our way to the course. Swarms of people filled the street. Still sleepy from just waking up, we decided not to warm up or stretch at all. BIG MISTAKE. We followed a group of runners to the starting point and waited patiently for the gun to go off. We couldn't understand why the color of their bibs was different from ours but we were too tired to care. That's when we realized we were in a crowd of people running the half marathon, not the 5k. It was too late, there was no escaping it because the crowds were too squished. Everyone took off running.
My thoughts while running:
Kilometer 1: HAHA, these people are SO SLOW. I'm passing everyone.
Kilometer 2: Wait....why are we running up a mountain?
Kilometer 3: YES a water station!....*Takes a sip*...Frizzy sweet tea?!? Who serves that at a race?!?
Kilometer 4: That guy that just passed me had to be at least 75 years old.
Kilometer 5: LORD GIVE ME STRENGTH. I wish my calves would just go numb already so I don't have to feel them anymore.
Every remaining Kilometer: I'm going to die...Why haven't I died yet?...I wish my dad was here...I just rolled my ankle again.
When I reached the finished line, I began to cry. Yes, you read that right. I CRIED. They were tears of pain and happiness. My body is shot but my pride is doing well. I finished the race towards the front of the pack, which was extremely surprising since I am seriously out of shape. My cross country coach would have been proud.
If I could go back to this morning, I probably would not have changed anything. Although it was an unexpected surprise, it was worth it. The race was tough, but not as tough as having cancer. Corri La Vita is a race that aims to raise money for breast cancer research. If my challenging experience can contribute to ending breast cancer, I'd do again every single day.
Yesterday, Jacki asked me if I wanted to run a 5k with her this weekend. A 5k wan't exactly my idea of a good time but I figured I needed the exercise after the month of eating gelato non-stop. I haven't done any form of cardio since I was on the lacrosse team a year and a half ago BUT I was on the cross country team my freshman year of high school. That had to count for something, right? It was only about 7 years ago. I was sure that my body would just remember the movements and start to go with the flow. To be honest, I really just wanted a free t-shirt. They were sponsored by Salvatore Ferragamo so Jacki and I decided that they were a must have. When we arrived at the registration tent, we found out that they ran out of t-shirts. WHAT! Our faces were full of disappointment but we decided to still register. We figured that since no one here ever exercises, we actually had a shot of winning the 5k. Sure, it is for charity but I was sure they still had some kind of trophy or something.
Little did we know, we would be running with elite Italian athletes.
This morning, we ate a healthy breakfast and made our way to the course. Swarms of people filled the street. Still sleepy from just waking up, we decided not to warm up or stretch at all. BIG MISTAKE. We followed a group of runners to the starting point and waited patiently for the gun to go off. We couldn't understand why the color of their bibs was different from ours but we were too tired to care. That's when we realized we were in a crowd of people running the half marathon, not the 5k. It was too late, there was no escaping it because the crowds were too squished. Everyone took off running.
My thoughts while running:
Kilometer 1: HAHA, these people are SO SLOW. I'm passing everyone.
Kilometer 2: Wait....why are we running up a mountain?
Kilometer 3: YES a water station!....*Takes a sip*...Frizzy sweet tea?!? Who serves that at a race?!?
Kilometer 4: That guy that just passed me had to be at least 75 years old.
Kilometer 5: LORD GIVE ME STRENGTH. I wish my calves would just go numb already so I don't have to feel them anymore.
Every remaining Kilometer: I'm going to die...Why haven't I died yet?...I wish my dad was here...I just rolled my ankle again.
When I reached the finished line, I began to cry. Yes, you read that right. I CRIED. They were tears of pain and happiness. My body is shot but my pride is doing well. I finished the race towards the front of the pack, which was extremely surprising since I am seriously out of shape. My cross country coach would have been proud.
If I could go back to this morning, I probably would not have changed anything. Although it was an unexpected surprise, it was worth it. The race was tough, but not as tough as having cancer. Corri La Vita is a race that aims to raise money for breast cancer research. If my challenging experience can contribute to ending breast cancer, I'd do again every single day.