Monday, August 02, 2010

5K Sundae

Yesterday Pete and I ran in our very first 5K.  The race I chose for us to start out on was called the Walnut Beach Ice Cream 5K.  (Get it??  That why the title of this post is "5K Sundae" instead of "5K Sunday".)  Every participant got a free ice cream cone - although I was disappointed to find out that the cones weren't handed out at the finish line.  Instead, we need to bring our race bibs to the creamery, where they'll give us our cones.

We've been using the Couch to 5K program to train, and just finished our last session on Friday.  So we were nervous, but we hoped we were ready.


In retrospect, I'm pretty sure we weren't.  Oh my goodness, it was HARD.  Much harder than our normal training runs.  In the end, Pete ran the whole thing without any walking breaks.  His time was 35:54 and he placed 300th out of 337 runners.  I needed to walk a few times, but I think I tended to psyche myself out and I probably didn't really need to walk as much as I did.  But I let the negative thoughts in my head convince me that I couldn't do it, and at one point I even muttered "I suck" under my breath.  In the end, I finished 322nd out of the 337 runners, with a time of 39:55.

As tough as it was, I have to admit I did okay.  My goal had been to finish somewhere between 40 and 45 minutes.  I just eked in under my goal.  And I learned some great things that I think will help me next time - such as don't listen to the doubting voices in my head.  I'm going to sign us up for a few more 5Ks through out the fall, and I'm hoping to get my finish time down to 35 minutes.

Up next is an informal 5K in Central Park on Friday in conjunction with BlogHer!  I signed up for the 6:15 am slot - which seemed like a good idea since I'm slow, but also seems like a bad idea because I'll be so tired.  I'm not really worried about meeting any time goal for this run, I just want to do it and have fun.  At least I have a cute new top to wear for the occasion!


K.C. looks like she isn't quite sure she approves.  After all, it is blatant self-promotion of my diabetes blog!

11 comments:

bmom said...

Great job.....

That's a perfect t-shirt. What's wrong with blatant self-promotion!

Lynn said...

Impressive!!! I think you did fantastic on your first 5K. AND you didn't come in last so I say you did REALLY well!! You are the 2nd blog I read that is doing the couch to 5k. Its on my list of things to do, but I'm waiting until Oct. It's WAY too hot in Central Florida to do a 5K.

Kitten With a Whiplash said...

You so totally do not suck! Only 337 runners? Out of how many people in the area? You were one of them, and you finished. I know I could not do it unless I walked the whole way, on three different days. You are a 5k Goddess whether you want to be or not.

Laura said...

congratulations on your run! that is so awesome! i really love the t-shirt too. :)
blessings
~*~

Vicki said...

congrats on your run!

Heide said...

Congratulations Karen! I have never done anything so grueling as this in my life. I'm proud of you.

Zonda said...

Congratulations to you and Pea! Gosh, finishing it is quite the accomplishment! I love your new t-shirt too! Wish you the best with that run!

Sonya said...

You rock, Karen! Way to go, you runner. Wouldn't it be great if we could run and knit at the same time?

knitseashore said...

Congratulations! You finished, you weren't last, and you met your time goal. I'd say that's pretty awesome!

Jennifer said...

Karen - that's a wonderful accomplishment. Congratulations! It sounds like you learned a lot about yourself from those 39 minutes.

Anonymous said...

Congrats on the 5K --- you did GREAT!!!

Steve is running one this Saturday. I was going to, but because I have surgery on Monday, the dr. said, "no". Bummer!

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