While I have done several 5k races in the past, I have always walked the vast majority of the course. So, I consider this my first 5k because it is the first race in which I ran THE ENTIRE TIME.
And that was my only goal for the race. I just wanted to be able to run the entire time, without slowing down to a walk at any point. I'm happy to say that I did accomplish that goal in 38 minutes. So, it wasn't a fast pace by any stretch, but I didn't walk.. and that's what I was focusing on since it was my first race.
According to my watch, my 5k time was 37 minutes, and my overall distances for the race for 3.22 miles. Since I ran on the outside edge of the course, I got a little extra distance over the route. I'm not going to lie, it wasn't easy. There were multiple points along the route that I thought I might want to stop and walk for a bit. There were multiple hills, and while the temperature was actually quite nice, we had cold wind blowing right into our faces the entire race. It probably wasn't the best route for someone that had never ran 3 miles in their entire life.. but I managed to make it work - and I had my husband supporting me all along the way. You can see him in the photo, telling me a story to keep my spirits up. It was also really nice of the organizers to take the race photos toward the start of the route, while I was still excited and energized.
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I ran this race a little earlier than scheduled. I actually still have a week left of my 5k training plan (Ease into 5k - which I recommend). Yesterday, I was scheduled to complete Week 7, Day 3 of that plan, which is a 27 minute run (plus a 5 minute warm up + 5 minute cool down). Basically, I counted the race as my scheduled training run, but ran during the warm up and cool down portions instead of walking them.
I wasn't sure if I should sign up for this race because I wasn't fully done with the training plan. And, I was already registered for another race next weekend. But we decided to register just a few days before the race and go for it anyway! And I'm glad that I did, because I've proved to myself that I can run for 3 miles and not die. I hope that will give me some added confidence going into the 5k race that we are registered for on Sunday (Dec 13th).
So, even though I've proved to myself that I can run the 5k distance, I'm still going to finish out the training plan. I'm in the last week at this point, it would be silliness not to just finish it up! And then next week, I want to continue running with the idea of building up my distance and endurance to the 10k distance. In addition, I want to work toward running a faster 5k.
For most, it's not a big deal to run 3 miles. But for me, it was a huge accomplishment. And now, I'm ready to move forward!
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