On Thursday I ran my first 5K. It was for St. Jude's and my friend has a little girl being treated there. The whole experience was great. We had a bunch of people from our congregation at church also running/walking for little Emma, so a lot of my friends were there making it even more special.
I started way in back of the pack, back with the mothers and strollers, not wanting to slow anyone else down. Well, I learned my lesson. Not that I'm fast, mind you, but I ended up passing a lot of walkers and it was sometimes difficult to find a pocket to squeeze through, so that slowed my time down. I also discovered it's more difficult to run when you don't know the track. I'm used to going to the park here and running around the outdoor path. I know how far I've gone and how far I have to go to reach my distance. For this race I had no idea how far I'd gone, and I didn't like not knowing. I think it threw my pace off a bit because I didn't want to exert more energy than necessary and not be able to finish without walking. Next time I'll have to start out stronger.
All I really wanted, however, was to finish the race without walking any of it, AND I DID IT! I ran (more accurately jogged) the whole time. Hurrah! It felt great to cross the finish line. I have been working towards this goal for a long time and it felt wonderful to finish!
I would like to run another one and better my time. I did this one in 35:48, putting me at 11:33 per mile. I had hoped to run it under an 11 minute mile, but hopefully I will do better next time. It was a great experience and I'm so glad I did it! I really do love running!
5 comments:
Jana, Way to go! I am so proud of you.
Also, I can't believe a year has already passed. Our little girls are growing up!
Great job Jana! I would probably be a 20 minute mile...strolling is my thing now :)
Way to go!! I am so proud of you! I still think you are crazy, but I am proud of you anyway! :)
I absolutely love that last picture of you at the finish line! I am so glad you went and participated. Thanks for posting the pictures too. I really wanted to but have been way too tried! Maybe next time. plus you've encouraged me to run again. (well after baby comes =)
Yay! You are awesome! Getting others goals accomplished when you have a kid to care for and a husband in school probably isn't real easy, so that makes the accomplishment all the more impressive. Congrats!
Post a Comment