My First Race...Kind Of.

Lots to share. I have been running, kind of, again since the beginning of November, so really only about 3 weeks. With getting back into the swing of things, in that aspect, it has been hard to run more than two times per week. The first few times, were tough. I walked 9 minutes, ran 2, and so on. The next time, ran 3 minutes, and then walked for 8. This process continued for about 4 runs when I started to pay a little attention to my running pace. I can hear you all now, "Why would you even care yet?" or "Are you crazy, just relax, at least you CAN run." However, as I realized this weekend, pace will always matter no matter how much I don't want it to. Last week I got my walk breaks down to 4 minutes, running for 7 minutes in anticipation of my Turkey Trot Predict this last weekend. Left in charge of predicting my finish time, I started talking myself into a 33 minute 5K. (I should say that in my past life, I could run a 5K in about 21 minutes.) Through the process (the week), it went down to a 30 minute 5K. By the time we, Marc and I, started the race, I officially predicted 29:45, in hopes of breaking 30 minutes.

Being a predict, I couldn't wear a watch and decided to take walk breaks at the 2 mile and 3 mile point. With no mile markers, this quickly changed to at the water stops - there ended up being only one. I walked for about 20 seconds. With about a half of a mile to go, and after staring at the back of two girl's heads the entire race, I decided that I needed to pass them. So in my new fashion, probably about an 8 min per mile pace, I kicked it in and passed them. I finished the race and said, "Well, I won't know if I overdid it until Monday." It's Monday, and I feel great. And my finishing time...drumroll...28:06. (9:04 pace)Not too bad. As we walked to the car Marc said, "You will never be able to run just for fun." I quickly pointed out that my pace was 2 min per mile slower than before, and that may be what it is for a while, but it is all good. At least I can run again.