Last Saturday morning, my husband and I woke up bright and early. I was excited because it was my 42nd birthday. We also had a fun activity planned, which was to run in the Cleveland Half Marathon and 5k in Tennessee.

In the summer of 2021, I decided to start jogging. Now, I never really enjoyed running. But I wanted to improve my lung health on a budget. We have a decent driveway, so I thought I would give jogging a go. I downloaded a “Couch to 5k” app on my phone and started working at it.

I had a few set backs. For example, I caught Covid smack dab in the middle of the program. I had to take two weeks off, and then go back another two weeks in the app. This was discouraging, but I was able to “graduate” just before my first scheduled 5k on Thanksgiving.

My goal was to jog the entire distance without stopping, and I did. I ended up finishing the race in 36 minutes and 30 seconds (36:30).

Since then, I’ve jogged three times every week. I lost another 17 pounds, and I could tell that I was getting faster.

My husband decided to start jogging from time to time as well. For my birthday, he agreed to run a 5k with me.

My goal was to run it in under 35 minutes. I really have had nothing to gauge my progress with over the past months. I would love a Garmin watch, but I haven’t invested in one yet. I’ve just been running for a set amount of time each day.

While my husband hasn’t trained nearly as much as I have, he is able to run slightly faster than me. During the race, he stayed a couple of feet ahead of me, which pushed me along. I had decided that I would push myself. It was only for half an hour, right? I could do it!

By the last mile, I was pretty much done. But I kept going. Once we saw the finish line, I sprinted the rest of the way.

I was incredibly surprised to find out that my finish time was 29:48. What?? I ran a 5k in less than 30 minutes? I was incredibly shocked.

Then I realized that I had come in second in my age category out of 19 women. I could hardly believe it!

The woman who came in first beat me by 12 seconds. I was 13 seconds away from coming in first place. Never in a million years did I believe this would be possible.

My husband takes full credit for being my personal trainer, ha! 

The race was so fun, and I’m already looking forward to the next one, whenever that may be. I might even purchase decent running shoes before long. I ran in $20 off brand children shoes. I have small feet, so I often purchase childrens shoes to save money.

I try to get my heart rate up for about 30 minutes each day, and running has been an easy way to do it.

And perhaps one day, I will be able to run the half marathon instead of the 5k!

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog today. I wanted to share some of my excitement with you! Do you exercise? What is your favorite way to do it?