the run
i did it. i got up at the crack of good-grief-it’s-early on a saturday morning, registered for a race, and ran my first official 5k.
clicky for the rest of the pix…
we met nightingale and mello at the store at 06:30 and got to the naval base just before 07:00. we registered, picked up our numbers and shirts (which WERE NOT as cool as the splash & dash shirts!), and did a lot of standing around and waiting. panda and i were both anxious about running our first real race (even though neither of us had any expectations of racing).
you’ll recall that panda talked me into this 5k by saying that we were going to do a walk/run. when tat said that she was going to come run with us to help push us, i warned panda that she would push hard. this picture was taken about the time she told us that we would not be walking at all. doh! a month ago, that wouldn’t have been a problem for me, but i got a little worried since it’s been so long since i’ve run.
when the race finally started, there was a burst of speed…
followed by a burst of… well… less speed. you can see me way at the back of the pack with tat making sure that i didn’t back out and am still behind her. notice that i’m the only person crazy enough to be running in pants in florida’s july.
we got off to a good start. we maintained an average 11:30 pace for the first mile and a half or so. that was about the time i started to burn out. panda, who claims to be not at all a runner, wasn’t even breathing hard. i was begging tat to let me walk. it was very evident to me that i had not been running lately and i had lost any conditioning i had built up. even though the bridge is .1 longer than a 5k, this run FELT so much longer than the bridge.
everyone else had plenty of time to cool down while we were still out running.
tat is such an awesome support and talked us through the whole race. when my breathing got out of control, she helped coach me through focusing on it. when i was hurting and wanting to walk, she encouraged me to keep going. she continually told me what a great job i was doing and i didn’t want to let her down. this pic is just around the corner from the finish line. that is the pickup car behind us but there were four people behind it!
tat had wanted us to give it a good burst of speed for the last half mile but i didn’t have much left in me. i did, however, gather up all of my strength and energy to sprint across the finish line. my official time was 42:20 but tat stopped her watch during our stop for the national anthem so my actual running time was 41 flat. that means that my overall pace was just over a 13 minute mile. all things considered, i really don’t think that’s all that bad. i really would have liked to have finished around 38 minutes but that was pretty unrealistic with my summer-sabbatical.
i must have downed a dozen cups of lemonade after running. i was insanely hot. as for that, though, i will admit that conditions could not have been any more ideal for the race. considering it is july. there was no sun whatsoever the whole time we were running. it was wonderfully cloudy and i was grateful. i was, however, much more aware of my pants and how hot my legs were than i have ever been. sadly, i think it’s time for me to look into running shorts. which makes me very uncomfortable just thinking about them.
it really was a great experience and i couldn’t have asked for a better first race. thanks to panda and tat, i was not alone. there were actually four of us that stayed together until the last hundred yards or so. and there was no sun beating down on me. and… i didn’t finish last! there were four walkers that came in after me. not that that makes my time great but it was nice to not be beat by all the walkers when i was out there running as hard as i could. strangely enough, i am actually looking forward to doing another. however, i think i’d like to wait until it cools down since i still don’t want to be doing any running in this summer heat.
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