I’m not a 5K runner. Mostly because I’m not fast, and I often hate the first mile of every run. That means that with a 5K, I hate a third of the race. But I couldn’t pass up this race. The starting line was only a few blocks away from my apartment. Initially, I had planned to run/walk this race with friends. A lot of my local friends comment about how they want to run, but struggle to get into it. Others have raced before, but have kind of given up the sport. So I thought this was a great chance to get everyone into running! We could sign up and run/walk the race together.
One friend who I thought would commit was out of town. Forgiven. Another signed up and then ended up out of town. Forgiven. The others? Who knows. So that meant it was just me.
Really, it was a well-timed race. I ran a 10 miler last weekend and am running another one next weekend, so I wasn’t really sure what sort of workout to do this weekend. A 5K race seemed as good an idea as any. And hey, a girl can always use another t-shirt. Especially an organic cotton one.
This course was surprisingly hilly, but also nice. It ran partway along a trail that I didn’t realize existed. Terrible of me, given just how close it is to my apartment. I may have to check it out again sometime. I knew during the first mile that this was going to be a tough race. It was an out and back and the first mile was very much downhill. Which meant that the last mile was very much uphill.
Great race support. Tons of volunteers dancing and cheering people on. They seemed to be enjoying themselves much more than the runners. Or maybe they were just trying to keep moving because of how cold it was. When I left my apartment, it was 39 degrees out! Not bad running weather, but I was definitely cold afterwards.
I really didn’t worry too much about time on this one. Someday, I want to do a 5K in under 30 minutes, but that’s not going to happen anytime soon and I’m okay with that. I finished in 32:34, only 30 seconds off my PR from a few years back. And much better than the 5K I ran last summer with my old roommate where we ran slow and I felt gross afterwards.
I have to admit, when I saw that one of the race sponsors was Whole Foods, I was excited. That had to mean tasty post-race food, right? I mean, let’s be honest. We run to eat. And I was right. Post race, we had water and bananas and Clif Bars and HonestTea and VitaCoco (their van is adorable!). Run to eat, baby, run to eat.
And then I went to Whole Foods and got breakfast, loitered in Borders for an hour or so reading triathlon books, then went and picked up my race packet for next week’s race. April is a crazy month for me.
Congratulations on your running… and on the write-ups you posted for the 10 miler and the 5k.
I’m afraid that I have not been running due to my achilles tendon (plus a bone spur right next to the tendon). The moon boot I was wearing back in Dec & Jan seemed to work, but it was only a temporary fix and the problem returned — and in a more painful and limiting way — so I am scheduled for surgery on my right heel to correct the problem.
My daughter and I enjoy running together and racing together and we have not been able to do that this year. We had both signed up for the James Joyce Ramble, a very nice 10k (in Dedham, a town outside Boston) that has actors in period costume along the race course reading aloud from the works of James Joyce. She ran the race but my heel kept me from running, although I cheered and took pictures.
The doctor says minimum of 8 to 12 weeks of no running after surgery, which eliminates a big chunk of summer… and my daughter & her boy friend are moving to Connecticut this summer (where he is going to law school), so our opportunities for running and racing together are going to be much more limited.