First 5K: Race for the Cure

After not running for 3 weeks, I ran in my first 5k Sunday.  I did much better than I expected and I had no knee or IT band pain.  I finished in 36:22 which is 11:27 per mile.  In my C25K program training I never matched that pace.

The race started out well.  I jogged with Lauren for several minutes and we both stopped to walk at about the same time.  I felt like I could have easily kept running but I knew it was wise to take a walk break considering I hadn't run in three weeks.  I'm not sure how far or long I walked, but it wasn't long before I decided I wanted to run the majority of the first mile.  I ran to the first drink station and walked while I finished my water.  I walked for a few more seconds and then started to run again when I heard Lauren over my shoulder, so I walked with her for awhile.  We both ran somewhat together down a pretty good sized hill.  I started walking again when I got to the bottom and walked up a fairly steep hill before arriving at what was pretty close to the half way point.  From there on I broke up my running and walking as evenly as possible, but I feel like I walked more than I ran.  As I got closer to the finish, I started to hear the music and the crowd cheering on the runners and knew I had to push it out to the finish.  I rounded the last turn onto the final straight to the finish and turned around to see if I could see Lauren behind me, and there she was rounding the next to the last corner.  I waved as I disappeard behind a van and started jogging. I increased my pace steadily all the way to the finish until I was running all out.  I passed several people on that last stretch and it felt really good to cross the line giving it all I could.

I had no idea what my time was but I was more interested in waiting for L to cross the line and congratulate her on a strong finish.  She came in a little over a minute behind me.  She did a great job, but was disappointed with her time.

I was really pleased with 36:22.  I know the swimming and time on the elliptical have helped my cardiovascular stamina over the last few weeks.  I never felt terribly out of breath and walked more for the sake of my legs than my lungs.  Once I got into a breathing rhythm I was feeling good. 

Our next 5K is tentatively on Thanksgiving Day.  I'm really looking forward to it.  My plan to prepare is to take the rest of this week off of running.  I'll swim and use the elliptical machine the rest of this week and then start back on day 1 of C25K next week, hopefully with my daughters.  I want to start from the beginning to work my leg strength back up.  On days that I don't run, I'm hoping to be able to swim on my lunch break.