I did it! First 5K race

I've gone from literally being on the couch to running my first 5K race. When I first started, my 5K time was just over 50 min. Last week, I hoped to finish in 43 min. When I got to the race itself, however, I found that it's true that the energy of the crowd pumps you up and seeing the finish line gets you motivated to give an extra push. I saw that my time when I crossed the finish line was 41:30, which was a thrill. Then, I realized that it had taken time for me to cross the start line, because of the huge crowd, and I figured out how to check my electronic "chip time". When I did, I got a shock - my official time was 38:18! I realize that for some, this is incredibly slow (my husband, for example, once did 10K in 42 min.), but it's by far my personal best, and I was on a high from reaching my goal.