An Awesome 5k Race

 

 

 

The weather was perfect for a race, in my opinion. Cold enough to keep me comfortable with no breeze to chill me mid run when I'm covered in sweat. The goal for this race was for me to run (or jog) continuously to improve my running and try to take it to the next level. I have goals and it's time to achieve them so I have to put the work in.

 

The race started off with my friend Christina, Lynn and Lynn's daughter and me running together chatting about stuff. Around the first bend, Lynn's daughter, who I call Short Stack dropped back. Then Lynn dropped back with Short Stack to take a walk break with her. This was Short Stack's first 5k race. Christina and I kept going. Now, Christina is a much more experienced runner than me so she was going at my pace just to keep me going. She could have easily left me in the dust, but didn't.....and I'm enormously grateful for this!

 

There were two slight hills, which I slowed down my pace to make it through so I wouldn't stop running entirely. Then, around the point we hit the two mile mark, I really started feeling the burn in my thighs. I had to slow my pace down so my body was feeling like it's getting a break with a walk but really wasn't.....mind over matter battled a lot at that time period for me. I knew my body could do it but my brain wanted to go easy. Christina kept telling me "don't you dare walk," whenever I showed the inclination to do so. Oh so effective, drill Sgt.! lol

 

It was around this point that we noticed the intersections were no longer being watched by a police officer or a volunteer to stop traffic to keep runners safe. Thankfully, we hit intersections when the lights were green but the other runners weren't so lucky. More importantly, random drivers were honking at us for taking up a full lane of the road as they tried to pass us. We were honked at and one car came dangerously close to another runner. To top it off, the roads weren't marked so unless Christina was with me, I would have been lost.

It was the best and worst race that I've ever run. Best, as I ran the 5k continuously for the first time after having my son and being injured from running but it was the worst organized race I've run!

 

Cheers!