Jenn's 5K PR = 35:37!!!

Well I did my first 5K this morning and now have a personal record of 35 mins 37 sec!! My goal was 36 minutes so I'm totally psyched at how well I did!! The weather was crappy - overcast, chilly and drizzling - and I had just gotten off a 12 hour overnight shift, but I showed up at the race determined to do well. The race was the Jay Dix Challenge to Cure, a race put on by the Columbia Multisport Club to honor the memory of Dr Dix who was a triathlete and runner. All of the money goes to our local cancer center and we also got nice performance t-shirts (it's all about the swag!)

I decided to go with a strategy of running 5 minutes and walking 1 minute to avoid losing my steam. It worked really well and I actually had to force myself to stop between mile 1 and mile 2, but I'm glad I did. I think I would have really slowed down if I hadn't given myself those breaks. At about the 2 1/2 mile point, I felt a side stitch coming on but I was determined to keep going. I did some deep belly breathing, slowed it down a bit, then got past it. As I saw the finish chute, I did kick it up -definitely not a sprint - but I wanted to break 36 and the announcer was encouraging me to make it! I finished feeling good and knowing that I probably could have been a bit faster, but hey - there's lot of races out there and now I know how it's done.

The sad part is that there was a concurrent 10K going on with those runners doing two laps. I had barely got my chip off and grabbed my water when the first 10K finishers were coming in the chute. I remarked to a couple of young girls who were right about my pace the whole race, "You know we're slow when the 10K runners are on our ass!"

I'm happy though! I was slower than most but faster than some and in the end, it's all about challenging myself and feeling fabulous doing it! Next race to be determined, but I can definitely lower my time .... I'll be shooting for 11 minute miles!!