My First 5K Run!

After the holidays I decided I was going to do something about getting back in shape. I've struggled since college working out consistently. Because of a significant knee injury in college, I've been left with few options of competing. Technically, I'm not to be running but I decided to run cautiously to see if my knee could handle it. In January I found a workout online called "From couch to 5K". The athlete inside of me was so ashamed that I was in need of such a simple plan. About halfway to the 5K I really began to start chickening out of the race so I asked my neighbor Haven if she would run with me. That was the wisest choice I made, because I really don't believe I would have run without her accountability!

As race day approached I was really concerned about finishing in a respectable time. I was told by some friends who run that under 30 minutes for my age group was respectable, so that's what our goal was. Let me time you how intimidating the time was before the race. There also was a duathon going on that morning. There were some very ripped women there. Every time that I saw someone who really looked like they could kick my butt, I would immediately look to their calf to see if it had a number on it (the duathon participants had a number on their shirt as well as their age and number on their calves). As we waited I felt like this was going to be a disaster. I had lost all confidence. But when the guy dropped his hand to start the race, the hard core competitor inside me came alive! I ran my first mile in 8:04! I haven't run that fast of a mile since my soccer days in college. Haven and I had gone to scout out the course the night before and sort of missed a whole back part to the park (oops) so the uncertainty of not knowing for sure where I was at slowed me down a bit. But I'm proud to say that I completed the course in 26:42! I had secretly wondered to myself if I could complete the race in 27 minutes so I was totally psyched with my time. This race was what I needed to get this momma who's had major knee surgery, 3 kids and a house move in a span of 6 years. I had to laugh at myself at the mind games and competitiveness I had during the race. I really thought the strong competitiveness had died some, but let me tell you this setting brought it back! I found a lot of pleasure in passing a guy who was 5-10 years younger than me. :) So since it seems like my body can handle this, I've decided to set my focus now to a race in July.


Lining up for the start. Some how we ended up in the front row. Haven and I were begging people to get in front of us. The lady in the red also seemed reluctant so I asked her if she ran much, an attempt to find someone we could follow. She said this was her 1st 5k here and I said this was our 1st 5k period and she snickered at me. At about the time that she said this the guy signaled for us to start and this lady just took off. Remember, I said the competitiveness kicked in?! Silly me tried to keep up with her. After the 1st mile I realized the pace was way to fast. The whole race though I tried to keep the lady in red in my sights, even if it was from a far distance. :) She ended up winning the race for the women in 19 minutes and something! WOW!!




Haven and I trying to find our pace.




Me finishing up from a distance.

I like the fact that Tanyon's giving me 5 in this picture but hating my face.

Haven and I after the race.

Haven had the fastest time for her age group so she got a gold medal. The boys keep telling me I did a bad job because I didn't get a medal. :) I finished 2 for my age group and about 4th for the females.