My First 5K

Well I finished my first 5K (3.1 Miles) on yesterday. I can proudly say that I was not last.

The day started with a phone call from my friend who was to run with me. Like we agreed she called at 5:00 am for the wake up call. Both my alarm and the phone rang at the same time. When I answered, I got some bad news. Her grandmother suffered a light stroke the night before. She received the word just one hour after I talked to her on the phone. She was exhausted and naturally would not be able to make the race. I listened to her and we talked some more, but you know what she was doing. Encouraging me to get out there and not be late. What a good friend.

So my BIL and I headed out around 5:45 AM. The race started at 7:00 but BIL needed to register. We got there around 6:15 and he registered without a hitch.

By race time, there was one wheelchair participant. That was very inspiring. He finished the course in 15 minutes. That's right 15 minutes. What strength!

We started at the end of the pack as the gun went off. There were around 330 people there and just to see the people ahead of me was very nice to see. Then I imagined that this had nothing on Chicago with 40,000 people crossing the starting line. Wow.

By the 1/2 mile mark, I felt that I moved too fast. Charles was already ahead of me and making the loop turn. I cheered him on. That was the last time I saw him until I crossed the finish line.

All in all it was a good time. I finished in 41:13. That's a 13:16 min/mile pace. So, now my goal is to run straight through. I believe that will increase my pace time for the overall marathon training.

I plan on getting out tonight and start on my goal of running straight through.