The 5K

It was a beautiful morning. I got to the park about 7:15. I signed in and got my packet (they were out of XL shirts even though I preregistered. I took it as a sign from above that I will need a Large in the near future). There was a small plastic square with a chip in it that I fastened to my shoe with twist ties. I walked around some and visited with my brother in law until I had to move to the back of the pack.

I was supposed to run 20 minutes for week 5, day 3 of couch to 5K. I only made it about 12 and a half minutes. That is still better than Thursday's 8 minutes, so I'll take it. Plus, it was outside and not on the treadmill.

The previous two times I had timed myself going 5K were 55 minutes each. At the halfway point, I was over 20 minutes. I thought it looked pretty good for me to get in under an hour. As I got closer to the finish line, I could see I was going to beat the 55 minutes, and maybe even get in under 50. I crossed the finish line at about 45:02, give or take a couple of seconds. By that point in time, the 10K runners had been passing those of us still going (they shared the last 1.7 miles with our path).

It was very cool crossing the finish line. There was a big clock with the time and lots of people cheering. I never in a million years thought I would be doing something like this.

I was nowhere near the last person to finish, but I wasn't really close to 'the pack' of runners at all. I felt fine afterward, except for a little bit of "if I had pushed a little more, I could have been under 45:00!" But now I have a goal for next time.

And I figure a first time of 45:02 is just fine for a 200+ lb. 40 year old who could barely run 60 seconds a month and a half ago! If you are thinking about trying the Couch to 5K program, just think - if I can do it, you can, too!