My foray into 5Ks began in May when I signed up for the Freihofer's Run for Women... a wildly popular race with over 4,000 runners. It was a great way to break into races because there were so many women there, at all different fitness levels. I half-heartedly trained for about 3 weeks prior to the race and set a goal to simply finish. No time restraints this time. I ended up doing fairly well for my first run, only stopping to walk twice for about 30 seconds each time. I finished with a time of 33:54. Not great, but I did it. And here's the icky, sweaty proof.
I am not one of those pretty girls after a workout. I sweat. It's disgusting ;)
Anyway.
Shortly after that race was when I began my Boot Camp Challenge classes. I also continued running on days in between boot camp. Over the summer, I became much more fit (imagine that, ha!) and dramatically increased my pace and became more and more confident in my running abilities.
About a month ago, I decided to sign up for a couple more 5Ks. There are a TON of them this fall in my area. After signing up for one for Sept. 12 and one for Oct. 2, my boot camp instructor approached me about doing another one. On Sept. 11. I couldn't say no, even though I'd now be running two races in one weekend. I figured at least I wouldn't have to put in an actual workout that weekend now ;)
Now it's Sept. 15 and I finished both races. My goals going into them were to finish sub 30 minutes. I've been running pretty consistently lately at about a pace of about 9:30. So I figured depending on how hilly the courses were, finishing under 30 minutes was do-able.
I started the race on Saturday at a pace a little faster than I'm normally comfortable with but I felt okay, so I kept going. When I reached the mile #1 marker, I looked at my watch and saw that it read 8:24. What??! Continuing on, I reached mile #2 at 16:28... I shaved 10 seconds off my pace! Mile 3 was tough... uphill ALL. THE. WAY. I want to know who the cruel person is who set the course to finish on an uphill! Ugh! Even though I slowed down for that awful mile, I never once stopped to walk and crossed the finish line at 26:28. I seriously can't even tell you how proud I was. I blew my goal time out of the water! Here's an oh-so-lovely picture of me crossing the finish line.
I look stunned. Maybe it's because I don't know how the hell I managed to run so fast... 8:31/mile average! Or maybe it's because I was dumbfounded that I came in second in my age group. Second, people! Perks of crossing that 3-0 threshold, ha!
So after my impressive run on Saturday, I set a goal for Sunday to beat that time. I knew the course wouldn't be nearly as hilly so I figured I could do it. Sunday morning came and I was pretty sore... I started to doubt myself but stretched and stretched and began the run! I hit mile #1 at 8:44... normally I'd be ecstatic with that, but I knew if I didn't speed up, I wouldn't beat Saturday's time.
So I set my sights on the two chatty-Cathy college girls ahead of me who honestly hadn't even broken a sweat and picked up my pace and finished at 25:57!!! As I was rounding the corner toward the finish line, I saw the clock approaching 26:00 and sprinted across the line just before it hit.
I hope I don't sound like I'm bragging but I am so incredibly proud of myself. My pace for this race was 8:22. A few short months ago, that didn't seem even kinda possible.
What a truly great weekend I had. As I said earlier, running two races in one weekend was tough, but in the end, I'm glad I did it. Now to rest up and prepare for my final 5K of the season on Oct. 2!
