Dogwood 5K

This past Saturday I ran in my hometown festival 5K. Last year I ran in it with little to no (let's lean heavily on the NO side) preparation. I think my time was around 39 minutes. I don't really know for sure. I know I walked a lot last year, like a lot, alot. So it may have actually been 49 minutes? 39 sounds better, so we'll go with that.

This year I started running religiously in mid-March, and there were only a handful of days that I skipped. Except now I know you're not supposed to run every day and you actually need breaks in between to rest. Lesson learned. I'm going to start alternating long running days with days in the gym. I'm paying for that membership and haven't been in the longest time, so I will start going again. Probably next week, cause this week is crazy busy. (I can already see this is going to get put off.)

Anywho, Saturday morning came. I had recruited my best junior high bud and she recruited her best running friend to keep pace with me/keep me from walking.

My younger runners that helped keep me going.

I can't say that I didn't walk at all, because there was about a 100 meter stretch where I did walk. And now I wish more than anything I would have just pushed through it because then I could say I didn't walk AT ALL, which was kind of my goal. My goal was also to keep up with Payton, but I think she hung back with me more than I kept up with her.

I ended up cutting 8 minutes off my time from last year and finished in 31:18. I was proud of myself.

Some of the girls that I raced with. The lady in the green t-shirt had all of us as 4th grade students, minus her sister that is right beside me.

Now I have three more races planned for the next three months. And in between there is going to be some serious half-marathon training going on. After Saturday I know I am in no shape to add another 10 miles, so it's a good thing that isn't until February.