Race Day

I did it! The race went great. The rain showers took a break from about 4 a.m. until 11 a.m., which was perfect for the race. I finished with no problems and feel fine. I did have to take a few walk breaks; I did about 9 minutes of walking total, so I will work on improving that in future races. I ran about the first 1.4 miles before taking the first walk break.

Anyway, numbers! I finished in 37.53 minutes, which was 2569th place (out of 2924). It's my first race, so that counts as a PR in my book! In fact, I'm very pleased with that number, as I wasn't sure if I would manage to finish in under 40 minutes.



The girl who is flying on the left side of the picture passed me seconds later.

Right Around the Corner

Tomorrow is race day! I've picked up my packet (bib #700!). I have my clothes all picked out. I've studied the map. I have a plan for getting to the race. Now I just need it to get here. It's kind of like when you are all ready for a test and just want to take it. Hopefully, I'll be able to sleep well tonight.

I am fairly certain that I will end up having to walk for part of the race, but I'm happy to be pleasantly surprised if I don't. The forecast calls for rain, which will be something new for me, but I have a cap and will clean off my glasses as needed. Mostly, I am trying to keep a clear head and positive attitude that this race is all about the experience and I just want to enjoy it. I will report back when it's over.

W8D1: 2.64 miles, 34.21 minutes
W8D2: 2.23 miles, 34.32 minutes
W8D3: 2.4 miles, 30.53 minutes
W9D1: 2.56 miles, 32.11 minutes
W9D2: 1.13 miles, 13.26 minutes (had to shorten for time)

Goals

I've been thinking a lot about goals as I've been doing the 5K training. I never had any doubt that I could finish a 5K, but, as recently as a few weeks ago, I was still very skeptical about being able to run the whole 5K. I still am, given the erratic runs of Week 7, but I am trying to remain optimistic. Right now, I'm holding off on determining a goal for the race. At a minimum, I want to finish the race and enjoy the experience. You only run your first race once, right?

I did come up with a set of goals in terms of races for the year. My goal was to do three 5Ks this year. That seemed very reasonable for a first-timer, yet I've found that, even before running my first race, I'm starting to think that that isn't enough, and I've been itching to add more races. I've at least convinced myself to not sign up for any more until I've gotten the first one under my belt, but in all likelihood, I'll end up adding a couple more. Here are the races I've committed to:

1. Ravenswood Run: Perfect timing for the first race and a nice neighborhood run.
2. Fleet Feet Sports Women's Festival: I thought it would be fun to do a women only race.
3. Hot Chocolate: Fitting, as this is the race that pushed me over the edge into this adventure last year. At some point I will write more about getting started with running, but last year I watched my friend Sue run the Hot Chocolate 15K and decided that maybe I could run a 5K. She's going to run it with me.

That's a good line up and well spaced, but I think I might want to add one in June and one in September. We'll see about that. I don't want to put the cart ahead of the horse. At this point, I have no idea how many would be too many and how many would be just right.

W7D1: 2.43 miles, 33.14 minutes
W7D2: 2.4 miles, 33.03 minutes (lots of walking)
W7D1: 2.4 miles, 32.01 minutes

23 Minutes

That's how much I managed to run on Day 3 of Week 6. Not the whole 25, but not too bad either. I need to lengthen my route because by the time I hit 23 minutes, I was less than a block from our house and that took the air out of any effort to push on for two more minutes. I have a new route picked out for Week 7 that is 2.4 miles, which should probably be about right. (Okay, it might be a little short, but it will be a good start for Day 1.) I won't be able to get out tomorrow because of work, but it's on my agenda for Wednesday.

Active.com had a useful post on Facebook today called 5 Common Hip Injuries You Can Fix. Reading that makes me think that the pain in my left hip is bursitis and not ITB syndrome. I've found some exercises to try and will ice it down after the next run. Hopefully that will bring some relief.

W6D2 (second attempt): 2.23 miles, 30.46 minutes (only did 8 1/2 minutes of the second 10 minute run)
W6D3: 2.23 miles, 29.03 minutes