5K!!

Last weekend I ran in the local 5K Turkey Trot. I have been training for it for the past 7 weeks, starting with running 1 mile and adding a tenth of a mile each time I ran, which was approximately 3-4 times a week. I was inspired to do this by a friend of mine, who has been running for the past year and was planning to run this race. I told her I might begin running and do it with her, but she told me that she felt I didn't have enough time to build up to running that far. Being intrinsically competitive, I couldn't ignore that challenge! I ran a 5K 3.5 years ago and spent about 4 months training to do it. At the point at which we had this conversation, I had about 3 months, but didn't get started right away because I have been struggling with foot pain and I was hoping it would improve. When it didn't, a visit to the doctor confirmed that it was Plantar's faschiaitis, but the doctor said running wouldn't make it any worse.

It was a beautiful balmy morning, and I finished in 28 minutes, 55 seconds. My goal was to finish in under 30 minutes. Last time I finished in 29:48, proving that I am indeed getting better with age! I was 20th in my age group, 40-44 year olds. My friend finished in 28:35, only 20 seconds faster than me.

Running in this race was a lot like giving birth for me. It was painful, because I ran a lot faster than I normally do, and I was SO glad when it was over! All I could think was "I never want to do that again!" for the first 5 minutes after I finished. After about 30 minutes, however, I was excited and thinking how much fun it would be to do that again. Which is exactly my thought processes after giving birth.

I encouraged my kids to run, and 2 did. L. took 3rd place in his age group in a 1200 meter race. J. ran the 5k and finished in 29:27.